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036 of 1999 - Amending Chapter 9.16 of the Salt Lake City Code regarding weeds and clearing of property.0 99-1 0 99-14 SALT LAKE CITY ORDINANCE No. 36 of 1999 (Amending Chapter 9.16 of the Salt Lake City Code regarding weeds and clearing of property.) AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 9.16 OF THE SALT LAKE CITY CODE REGARDING WEEDS AND CLEARING OF PROPERTY. WHEREAS, the Salt Lake City Code contains a chapter dealing with weed removal and the clearing of property which allows the City to remove such weeds and clear property, and to impose certain fees and costs upon the property owner; and WHEREAS, the City Council has now determined that the waiver of such fees and the deferral of costs is appropriate for very low income households and in the best interest of the City; NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah: SECTION 1. That Chapter 9.16.020 G of the Salt Lake City Code shall be and hereby is enacted to read as follows: G. " Very low income household" shall have the same meaning as set forth in the guidelines established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in its " Income Limits for Housing and Community Development, Section 8 Program for Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah SMSA." SECTION 2. Chapter 9.16.060 C of the Salt Lake City Code shall be and hereby is enacted to read as follows: C. Notwithstanding any other provision in this Chapter to the contrary, where the owner of the property in question presents evidence demonstrating that his/her combined family income is at or below the level established for very low income households, to the satisfaction of the inspector, the City shall waive all administrative fees and the actual cost of removing weeds or the clearing of property at the owner's principal place of residence. SECTION 3. Effective Date. This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon its first publication. Passed by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah, this 4 day of May , 1999. ATTEST AND COUNTERSIGN: P p CHIEF DEPUTY CITY ECORDER .0.07i .---C1-RPER ON 2 Transmitted to Mayor on May 12, 1999 Mayor's Action: xx Approved MAYOR ATTEST AND COUNTERSIGN: .1t,-Se CHIEF DEPUTY CITY RECORDER (SEAL) Bill No. 36 of 1999. Published: May 19, 1999 G:\ordina99\amend chap 9.16 re weeds v2.doc 3 Vetoed. WEED ABATEMENT ANALYSIS The City's process for weed removal and a recommendation to meet the Council's request have been discussed with input from Housing and Neighborhood Development, the Attorney's Office, the Treasurer's Office, Community Affairs, and Policy and Budget. This report discusses three ways to address the costs of removing weeds for property owners who have financial limitations. The fees could either be collected through liens or other means with no exceptions (status quo); the fees could be waived; or the actual cost of weed removal could be deferred and the administrative fees waived. A written or verbal briefing can be presented to the City Council when agreement is reached on a recommendation. The City Council's legislative intent statement on this issue is: 1. Weed Abatement and Demolition - It is the intent of the City Council that the Administration draft a policy regarding individuals who would take care of weed removal and demolition but are not able because of financial or physical limitations. The policy should list options available in such circumstances to keep a lien from being placed on non -compliant property. The Council requests a briefing from the Administration on the proposed policy. RECOMMENDATION AND BUDGET IMPACT For very low income property owners, the City should defer the actual cost of removing weeds, and waive the administrative fee of $100. In this way, the actual expenses the City pays a contractor for weed removal would be covered, although it would be deferred until such time as either the ownership of the property changes of the owner is no longer eligible for deferment. Based on the average number of lots that had weeds cut over the past three years, the maximum potential cost impact could be a loss of $5900 per year in revenue for administrative fees, plus 29.5 hours in staff time expense. This would occur only if every person who received a lien notice applied for the low income adjustment and was found to qualify as being a low income owner occupying the residence where the weeds were removed. The expense involved in removing the weeds would be deferred, so at some point the City will be reimbursed. However, it's unlikely that every person would qualify as low income. If the same total number of people who qualify for Special Improvement District deferments also quality for weed removal deferments, the cost to the City per year will be no more than $1000 and 7 hours of staff time. DISCUSSION In the current process, weeds are cut by the City based on complaints received. Once a complaint is received, an inspector checks the property, researches who the property owner is, and sends a registered letter requesting that the owner take care of the weeds within 10 days. If the owner contacts the City within that time period and indicates a problem with getting the weeds cut, such as physical limitations or finances, City staff recommend various churches and community groups as resources that could help. If there has been no response by the owner, or if there is an indication that no resources are available to cut them, and the weeds are not cut after 10 days, a contractor is assigned. When the cutting is completed, the contractor bills the City. There are two fees assessed when the City has a contractor cut weeds: the actual cost of cutting weeds and removing rubbish, and an administrative fee of $100 per Chapter 9.16, "Weeds and Clearing of Property" (section 9.16.060). The City pays the contractor, sends a notice of the cost (contractor's fee and administrative fee) and potential lien to the owner, and files lien papers with Salt Lake County. The County also sends notice of the lien and by law, gives the property owner 30 days notice before the lien is placed. The lien is paid when the property taxes are paid in November of each year. If an owner objects to the lien, a hearing is held. The number of lots cut each season by the City has been decreasing over the past three years, although the total number of weed cases has increased since the program began in 1995. The totals for each year and the average for all three years are listed below. Weed Cases Lots Amount Administrative Fee Total Revenue A. V{ll 1995 784 v•-� 88 .-1 $ 13,659 $ 8,800 $ 22,459 1996 1,078 51 $ 6,882 $ 5,100 $ 11,982 1997 1,013 39 $ 4,957 $ 3,900 $ 8,857 3 Year Ave. 958 59 $139 per lot $100 per lot $ 14,433 Financial hardship was determined to be the only situation in which a fee waiver or deferment would be applicable. A physical limitation such as being elderly or disabled, does not automatically mean that a property owner cannot arrange for weed removal. Financial limitations, however, especially in conjunction with physical limitations, could make it difficult for an owner to remove weeds. The Treasurer's Office currently uses a deferment process for low income owners for taxes assessed in Special Improvement Districts. The deferment is limited to properties that are owner occupied single family dwellings. The loss of revenue is temporary until the property is sold or the applicant is no longer eligible because of an income change. Interest is charged at a rate of 4.5 percent per year. The eligibility and application forms for Special Improvement District deferments could be modified to be used for weed removal. There are about 2800 active accounts in the Special Improvement District. Of those, 14 property owners requested the deferment information, resulting in 10 (0.4 percent) who qualified for the deferment. City staff time for processing the deferments is estimated at no more than one half hour per application. Alternatives Assessments of this kind can be handled in the following ways: • Place a lien on the property. Fees are collected and returned to the City when property taxes are paid. • Waive the fees using a process similar to the low income deferment for Special Improvement Districts. For weed removal the waiver could apply to either or both of the fees (contractor costs and administrative). • Defer the fees using a process similar to the low income deferment for Special Improvement Districts. Again the deferment could apply to either or both of the fees. The three options below discuss how the City could apply these methods for individuals with financial limitations. Continue Current Policy The current City policy is to place a lien on the property when weeds have been removed at the City's expense. The amount of the lien includes the contractor's cost plus an administrative fee. Retaining this policy would not require any additional resources, and would not cause the City to lose any revenue. However, it would not address the concerns raised by the City Council. Waive All Fees With this option, all fees associated with removing weeds from an owner occupied single family dwelling would be waived. This would include the contractor costs for removing the weeds and the administrative fee charged by the City. To implement this, a statement could be added to the current lien notice sent out by the City that a low income fee adjustment of the assessment is possible. (A draft letter is attached with this information highlighted.) To qualify, owners would have to be classified as very low income, which is less than 50 percent of median income as determined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. There are two concerns about waiving all the fees. First, the City will be required to cover the expenses of the contractors who have removed the weeds. For 10 properties, that cost would be approximately $1390 per year. The administrative fees of $100 per property would result in an additional $1000 being waived, for a total of about $2390 annually. Second, the waiver of all fees for every low income owner could send the wrong message in that an owner could qualify for total fee waiver while having the physical ability to take care of the weeds. Defer Costs of Removing Weeds, Waive Administrative Fee With this option, the costs charged by a contractor to remove weeds from an owner occupied single family dwelling would be deferred. The administrative fee charged by the City would be waived. The lost revenue is estimated at $1000 per year for 10 qualified owners. This could be implemented in the same way as waiving all fees, i.e., a statement could be added to the current lien notice sent out by the City that a low income fee adjustment of the assessment is possible. Only very low income owners would qualify for the deferment and waiver. Because the City has to pay the contractors' expenses, this option allows those costs to be recovered. Deferring rather than waiving the actual cost of removing the weeds sends the message that people are expected to be responsible for their property, regardless of their income level, while reducing the total cost by waiving the administrative fees. The number of people who would receive the fee deferment or waiver could be minimized by requiring the owner to go through the current process in which he/she must consider alternatives to get the property cleared, including the community groups recommended by City staff. The low income deferment would be made available only when a lien is about to be filed. Having the option to file for a low income deferment or waiver at the end of the process if no other means can be found will be beneficial to those who really need it. This option would show concern for the owners with physical limitations and low income, but would encourage using all the resources available to them to get the weeds handled on their own. Staff working in the weed removal program indicate that owners allow weeds to be removed by the City for a variety of reasons, including non-resident (either in or out of state) owners who don't want to be bothered with hiring a contractor, or owners who are not able financially or physically to remove the weeds. The additional staff time related to either deferments or waivers is expected to be not more than 7 hours annually (one half hour per application, based on 14 applications per year). Currently the outstanding liens are monitored, and the deferments could be tracked in that same process. At this point, however, the additional costs can only be estimated. If a fee waiver / deferment plan is adopted, the costs should be tracked to determine what the actual expenses and revenue losses are. It is not known how many people allow the City to cut the weeds because they do not have the financial resources to take care of it themselves. If the property is a rental property that is occupied, there should be no waiver or deferment of fees regardless of the income level. The rental income would be expected to cover the costs of maintenance of the property. The requirement that the property be an owner occupied single family dwelling is consistent with the Treasurer's Office policy. Recommendation City staff members recommend that for very low-income property owners, the City should defer the actual cost of removing the weeds, and waive the administrative fee of $100. This exception would apply only to properties that are owner -occupied single-family dwellings.