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Officials watch mystified as water fines evaporate
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
© St. Petersburg Times, Rudolph DiTomasso got caught watering his Spring Hill lawn on the wrong day last November. He argued with the county code enforcement officer who wrote the ticket. Ultimately, though, DiTomasso paid the $25 fine. Now he wishes he had taken his chances in county court. Judge Peyton Hyslop has taken the position that just showing the water was on isn't good enough. To make the charge stick, Hyslop says, an officer must prove the person cited actually turned on the water. He dismissed 11 of the 15 cases before him last week, and indicated he would dismiss a 12th if certain conditions are met. About 40 more watering cases are tentatively set to come to Hyslop next month, and another 82 from May and June have yet to be paid or be placed on the docket. "I think it's horses---, because I've got to pay the damn fine because someone reported me," DiTomasso said. "The guy wouldn't listen to me. I was checking the system. "If they're throwing these out because they're going to court, that's a crock," DiTomasso said. Hernando County officials share that opinion, but they express it more diplomatically. "It seems like the citizens are coming in with any kind of excuse and (Hyslop is) letting them go," code enforcement director Frank McDowell III said. McDowell said he would bring lawyers and a court reporter to Hyslop's courtroom next month to create a record on which the county can dispute the judge's "absurd" decisions on "clear-cut violations." It's not that simple, Hyslop countered. "The county has to prove a violation was committed, and that the person charged is the one who committed the violation," he said. "The charging authority has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a violation was committed and you did it." Consider, he said, the person who sets the sprinkler system to run from 9 to 10 a.m. on the proper day, but an electrical outage delays the start until 11 a.m. No watering is allowed after 10 a.m. "Did you violate the ordinance then?" he asked. Or what about the person whose sprinklers are running at 5 a.m. on the wrong day? Hyslop asked. "What evidence do (officers) have at all that you're the one who turned it on?" To McDowell, Hyslop's logic is faulty. He said officers look for violations at the times they're most likely to occur -- in the middle of the night and on weekends -- and if they see watering at the wrong time, they issue a ticket to the homeowner. Pinellas County has used the same logic with much different results. "Our argument is and has been accepted to date that the utility account holder is responsible for the utility," said Don Crowell, an assistant county attorney. "If it's being used illegally, we hold them responsible. So far, I believe, we're a little better than 90 percent effective." Most of the hundreds of Pasco County residents cited for illegal watering have either paid up or failed to persuade a judge to drop their fines, code enforcement supervisor Joe Gross said. "By and large, they've been holding up in court." Hillsborough County Water, which also holds property owners responsible, has seen its fines decreased but not dismissed, spokesman John Fischer said. "We haven't come up against that," Fischer said of Hyslop's philosophy. "Good grief. I hope that word doesn't get out." Hyslop, well-known for his defendant-friendly readings of the law -- he has in the past tossed out DUI cases, to the frustration of prosecutors -- said he agrees with the county's watering restrictions, set in place to force water conservation during times of drought. "But it doesn't change that I'm here to make sure that they go through the steps," he said. "A lot of laws are passed that are hard to prove." - Times staff writer James Thorner contributed to this story. Discuss this and other issues in our Web-based discussion forum at www.sptimes.com/hernandoforum.
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From today's Hernando Times Jan Glidewell |
