Code violators owe city thousands

Code violators owe city thousands
North Port uses liens to crack down on yard trash after years of lax regulation.

By John Davis

Published: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 3:27 a.m.

NORTH PORT -- Alexander Rokovets left a broken down 1994 Ford Explorer in his backyard for an alleged 188 days. Now he owes $9,400 in fines and fees to North Port, a city that is faced with regulating the yards of more people than ever in its history.

Rokovets is among dozens of residents who have racked up thousands in city fines because of code violations in recent years, typically at the rate of $25 or $50 a day plus interest.

As Florida cities struggle to balance services with population growth, leaders in North Port and other communities use the fines to send a message that they do not tolerate trashy yards.

Late last year, North Port decided to get serious about collecting from people who owed $10,000 or more in fines. This decision mushroomed the city's tax liens on residents from about 26 to 65 and growing as longtime offenders reach $10,000 in fines.

North Port's code violation collections doubled from 2005 to 2006, to more than $200,000, and with $124,275 collected so far this year the collections are still on the uptick.

"It's not about the money," said Whit Blanton, of Renaissance Planning Group in Orlando, noting that going through the courts to collect fines is often a long and arduous process.

Blanton said that municipal code enforcement or the lack of it "either solidifies or it hinders an image" in communities.

Rokovets and his attorney pleaded with commissioners to reduce fines for the unregistered Ford and debris in Rokovets' yard. He said the city letters threatening fines went to his father, who doesn't speak English.

"Most of the people we talk to have endless numbers of excuses," City Attorney Rob Robinson told the commission.

But Rokovet's alibi did not carry much weight at City Hall.

"My wife's Ukrainian. ... To me, that's just not a good excuse," said Commissioner Fred Tower.

Rokovets gave the Ford away, but his trouble with the city is not over. He said he would have to refinance his house to come up with the money.

"It's our responsibility and our oath to protect the property owners here," Tower said.

North Port Commissioner Barbara Gross said the $10,000 rule could help protect property owners from larger fines, since the courts will notify homeowners when the lien is filed in court and hopefully motivate them to get the situation taken care of.

"I believe that people have rights, but with rights come responsibility," Gross said.

But many residents do not realize a simple code violation -- unregistered cars parked in a yard or an unpermitted above-ground swimming pool -- could cost them thousands of dollars.

"They won't even bend enough to turn around and make it easy on me," said Russell Sichelski, a truck driver who says he spends maybe five days a month at his North Port home.

The city is coming after him for $24,000 because he had debris in front of his house for months.

Sichelski bought his house in 1991 and remembers the days when North Port was rural, making the cost of code violations to protect urban property values -- to him -- "insanity."

"There was nobody living here," he said of bygone times. "There were pigs in the front yard."

Code Enforcement Board members are not the most popular people because of their role as the city's hall monitors.

Board Chairman Alberto Belinfante said he is unlikely to give offenders breaks if they wind up in front of the board and have not cleaned up their yards. It typically takes months of warnings from city code enforcers and the code board before a fine is imposed.

"If we intend to get our city to look presentable, got to tighten it up," Belinfante said.

Belinfante said violators often do not take the board seriously until they get their bill.

But the city attorney has collected $70,000 through liens on the biggest violators and stands to collect tens of thousands more as cases make their way through the system.