12-01-2007 AO Discussion Points - City Response

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ADMINISTRATIVE OFFENSE DISCUSSION POINTS 1. Administrative Offenses that are certified to Property Taxes should be property- based. The city agrees. 2. Should there be a neutral arbitrator? I would suggest that if the Charter addresses this in any fashion, it should provide the city with the authority to establish a third party neutral or hearing officer and not get into any specifics for the reasons articulated. 3. Can a property owner request a fine be certified to his taxes immediately rather than paid in cash? Yes, we already provide for this now with diseased tree removal and for some abatements. I would caution against using the word "immediately", however, as we typically go through the certification process just once a year. we could do it every March and every September, but the county only processes such requests once a year early in the fall in preparation for the following year's tax statements. 4. What should be the limit of total amount of fines certified rather than submitted to the Court and over what period of time should this be applied? I would not recommend establishing a limit in the first place, although I understand why others may be more comfortable with a limit. That said, if a limit is truly deemed necessary by the Commission, then I would recommend the limit be established to reflect the sum of the three graduated fines plus respective late fees. In other words, if the first fine is $150, the second $300 and the third $450 (for same or similar violations) and all are unpaid and thus subject to late fee of $50 each, the total would be $1,050. Please keep in mind however that if court citations are issued for the same offenses rather than AOs, the maximum cumulative fines a judge could impose would be $3,000 with no provision for certifying against the property taxes. 5. Do we need to specify a minimum period of time between the receipt of a fine and the certification of unpaid fines to taxes? No. If we extend the time frame by which a recipient has to pay the fine to 30 days, I see no reason why we would need to further limit the time before a certification could move forward. Even if we acted immediately after the thirty-day period to begin the certification process, we would still need to provide notice to the property owner and then provide them with an opportunity to be heard before the city council.