Nineteen years and more than $43 million.
That’s how long it’s been since some liens for nuisance abatement and demolition charges were filed and the amount still owed to the city by property owners.
When a property is not being maintained — overgrown landscaping or trash and debris piling up, for example — the city cites the property owner and demands the violation be mitigated.
When the property owner doesn’t take action, the city takes care of the violation and sends a bill to the owner.
If the owner doesn’t pay the bill, the city has to wait until the property is sold to have any hope of collecting.
According to City Council member Denise Lee, that’s not good enough.
“The city has been negligent,” she said. “We haven’t been following up.”
The extent of the arrearage came to light after Assistant General Counsel Cherry Shaw told the council’s Special Ad Hoc Committee on Jacksonville’s Neighborhood Blight, which Lee chairs. Shaw presented a proposal to amend the Municipal Code to enhance the city’s ability to collect the funds.
When the option to assess delinquent liens on property tax bills first was raised, the city reported a figure of $1.3 million for the liens. That amount is actually what is deposited in the Nuisance Abatement Trust Fund.
According to subsequent data provided to the Daily Record through public records requests, the amount owed to the city is far greater.
As of Oct. 31, 67,656 demolition and nuisance abatement liens have been filed since 1995. Of that total, 36,316 are listed as “open.”
On the money side, total fines are reported at $43,144,665; fee interest at 12 percent per year, is $18,192,495. The city collected $18,213,898 leaving a balance of about $43,123,261.
Nearly 250 liens filed in 1995 remain open with $3.2 million still owed. Liens filed peaked in 2011 when the city filed 7,778 nuisance liens with an initial fee value of $5 million.
Only $6.3 million has been paid voluntarily by property owners in the past three years, according to the Duval County Tax Collector’s Office.
“Right now, the liens are practically ignored,” said Shaw.
And more liens are piling up every month. On Oct. 29, the city published notices of 180 nuisance abatement and demolition liens in the Daily Record ranging from about $300 to more than $9,500.
Shaw shared with the committee on Oct. 16 a way the city might be able to improve the level of success in collecting its nuisance property violation liens, patterned after a Central Florida county.
St. Lucie, northeast of Lake Okeechobee, adopted an ordinance in 2007 that allows unpaid nuisance abatement liens to be placed on a property owner’s annual ad valorem tax bill as a non-ad valorem assessment.
Here’s how the process works in St. Lucie County:
• When a violation is cited, a notice is sent by certified mail directing the violation be terminated or taken care of within 20 calendar days.
• The recipient has 15 days to appeal the notice before the Board of County Commissioners. If the appeal is unsuccessful, the recipient has 15 days to mitigate the violation or he/she may appeal the board’s decision to the circuit court within 30 days.
• If a timely appeal is not made, the county may fix the issue and the recipient is charged for cleanup, administrative expenses and other costs.
• If the amount due is not paid within 20 business days of the assessment, the bill (plus 8 percent annual interest) may be collected as a non-ad valorem assessment on the property tax bill.
• The recipient is informed the county may place the assessment on the tax roll if it is not paid by the next Dec. 1.
• A final notice makes it clear that failure to pay the amount will cause a tax certificate to be issued against the property, which could result in loss of title.
Monica Graziani, building and code regulation manager for St. Lucie County, said the intent of the ordinance is to be “much more aggressive” in the lien collection process.
St. Lucie County put the ordinance in place in 2007, but hasn’t really used it until this year, she said.
Of the roughly 3,200 code enforcement citations issued in St. Lucie in 2013-14, only about 200 resulted in liens and of those. Twenty are scheduled to be added to property owners’ 2016 bills as non-ad valorem assessments.
Graziani said about 85 percent of the violators comply without the county having to take action.
She said having the ability to place the lien on the property tax roll would give the city “a little more weight” in collecting the fines and interest.
As part of the property tax bill, if the non-ad valorem assessment is not paid in addition to the ad valorem tax, the property could be sold at auction.
“It would be another way to get the attention of property owners,” said Shaw.
Lee said she wants to get a tougher collection process on the books in Duval County as soon as possible.
“There’s no question it needs to be approved. The means the city has been using to collect is not working,” she said. “We need to put some teeth into the process.”
Several council members signed on to sponsor a resolution to follow the same process in Jacksonville.
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