Loose dogs could cost county $200 each

The state considers imposing a $200 filing fee on the county for each code enforcement citation.

PORT RICHEY - The fine for watering your lawn on the wrong day: $30 for first-time offenders.

The charge for letting your dog roam without a leash: $55.

The cost to Pasco County, under a proposed state law, for writing those code enforcement citations: $200 per ticket.

At least that's what some lawmakers have in mind, under a proposed bill that would increase court fees across the board to fully cover the cost of running the judicial system.

In theory, the higher fees would help the clerk of court's offices pay for themselves, easing the burden on county governments that have subsidized those offices for years.

But in this case, county officials say the $200 filing fee would make code enforcement citations too expensive to give. Pasco County gives about 200 citations a month, so it would face about $40,000 in filing fees each month if the bill is approved, Assistant County Attorney Kristi Wooden said Monday.

As it is now, the county pays nothing to issue a citation, she said.

"It's not homicide, but it's a quality of life issue if there's a dog barking all night or a junk car parked in front of your house," Wooden said. "For the state to make it fiscally impossible to use the best method to clean up a junk yard or license a dog is just disappointing."

The bill was up for consideration Monday in the state Senate, but legislators put it on hold so they could hammer out a common version with the House of Representatives, said Fred Baggett, general counsel for the Florida Association of Court Clerks.

At this point, the House version does not include a $200 filing fee for code enforcement citations.

Baggett said the Senate bill offers a fair tradeoff. The higher fees would allow the clerks of court to be self-sufficient so local governments would no longer have to subsidize them to the tune of $250-million a year statewide, he said.

"That's a quarter-billion dollars in revenue the counties aren't going to have to spend," Baggett said.

He didn't know how much of that Pasco County would save.

"But the flip side is that the counties are going to have to be considered as users, and as such they will be charged . . . for the use of the courts to enforce their ordinance violations."

The annual amount Pasco County spends subsidizing the clerk of court's office was not available Monday evening.

A recent statewide study shows it costs the clerks' offices an average of $227 to process a civil complaint, Baggett said, so a $200 filing fee for citations would be reasonable.

Wooden of the Pasco County Attorney's Office begs to differ.

Most people simply pay the citation instead of taking it to court, she said, so there is little burden on the clerk's office.

"It bears absolutely no relation to the actual cost of providing those services," Wooden said.

It is unclear what Pasco County will do if the bill is approved. Officials could continue to issue citations and try to recoup the $200 fee by charging the person who received the citation, Wooden said.

"But I find it unlikely that a judge is going to impose $200 in court costs for a $30 watering violation ticket," she said.

Baggett said the county could bypass the courts - and the related costs - with a different form of code enforcement, such as a lay-member Code Enforcement Board that issues liens against violators.

Been there, done that, said Steve Pence, the county's code enforcement manager.

The county used to have such a board, and cases languished for months or even years because the penalties were neither immediate nor stiff, he said.

The county switched to a court-enforced system more than a year ago to fix that problem, he said.

"It's been a very important aspect, in my opinion, in resolving code violations for the public," he said.

Some community leaders are wary of any changes that could make it harder for the county to flex its code enforcement muscle. If it becomes cost-prohibitive to issue citations, they fear the county won't issue citations at all.

"They might as well go through the next step and tell the policemen they can't carry guns," said Mark Glassman, supervisor for the community development district in Meadow Point II.

- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached at (727) 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com

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