City attorneys said Thursday they found a new option to collecting nearly $1.3 million in unpaid nuisance abatement liens filed against homeowners who failed to maintain their property.
According to City Assistant General Counsel Cherry Shaw, the city’s attorneys read in a legal community publication that tacking liens onto property tax bills is how nuisance abatement costs are recouped in St. Lucie County.
The St. Lucie legislation was used to craft a City Council resolution to do the same thing in Jacksonville. Six council members signed on to introduce the proposal.
The idea was presented to the Stand Up for Neighborhoods Subcommittee of the Special Ad Hoc Committee on Jacksonville’s Neighborhood Blight.
However, that method already is an option in Jacksonville.
Under Section 518 of the City of Jacksonville Municipal Ordinance Code, the director of finance is authorized to “use whatever means are available” under the ordinance and Florida Statutes to collect the unpaid liens.
That includes adding it to the property tax bill, as well as filing a lawsuit against the property owner for the value of the lien, referring the lien to a collection agency and referring the item to outside counsel when the General Counsel’s Office authorizes such procedure.
After the meeting, when told the option already existed, council member Denise Lee was unhappy.
The committee chair said the city “has not been doing what we needed to do.”
Lee questioned why the liens have not already been added to the tax bills and why no representative from the Finance Department has participated in the blight committee.
“As many blight meetings as we’ve had, there has never been anybody there from the finance department,” said Lee, who was among the council members to sign on to the legislation. “The finance department should have already been collecting this.”
When an owner fails to maintain private property, the city first notifies the owner that if the property is not brought within standards for public health, safety and welfare, the city will perform the maintenance, mowing and brush clearing, for example. When the city incurs a cost for the work, a lien is filed to recoup the cost.
Shaw said after the lien is filed, the city’s accounting department takes over the collection effort, historically without much success.
“They get ignored,” said Shaw.
The nuisance abatement and demolition liens on the city’s accounts payable account totaled $1,278,253 as of Thursday, according to administration spokeswoman Aleizha Batson.
The resolution is scheduled to be introduced by Lee, Greg Anderson, Bill Bishop, John Crescimbeni, Bill Gulliford and Jim Love.
It would seek to recoup costs incurred by the city for mitigating conditions like vegetation more than 15 inches high; removal of garbage, trash or rubbish; and demolition of a structure deemed to be a breeding place or shelter for rodents.
Shaw said the action would require action by the council each year to add the nuisance abatement liens to property tax bills, “like a tax roll.”
The property owner then would be compelled to pay the lien in addition to the ad valorem tax, just as the stormwater and garbage fees, which also are added to property tax bills. Failure to pay the entire bill could result in loss of the property.
“Either the property owner will pay it, the bank will pay it, or whoever buys the tax certificate will pay it,” said Crescimbeni.
Allison Albert, an attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, suggested amending the resolution to provide for a payment plan or an exemption from the non-ad valorem assessment if the property is a homestead or if the property is owned or occupied by a senior citizen.
Love suggested amending the resolution to allow interest charged by the city on the liens — at the rate of 1 percent per month — to be waived when the lien is added to the tax bill.
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