HomeMy WebLinkAboutResponses to Council Questions - Budget Hearing 62020 BUDGET HEARING – WRITTEN RESPONSES TO COUNCIL QUESTIONS
Budget Hearing #6: September 4, 2019
Code Enforcement & Animal Resource Center
Unanswered Council Questions
o Can we give a list of industrial buildings / commercial structures in need of demolition and where we are in the
process of attempting to remedy those structures (i.e. are we reaching out to the owners, what are next steps, etc.).
Can we check whether MACOG can provide resources to help with this? Can we get IDEM in to address some of the
concerns about these structures?
• We will need help from the Controller, Council, anyone else who may be able to assist us with obtaining
the money needed to address commercial demolitions. We have a preliminary meeting set for this, and
will certainly keep Council abreast of the results of that meeting and the priorities going forward.
• If we were able to prioritize vacant and abandoned commercial properties Code would need to assess
commercial properties throughout the City to get a more concrete number of properties in need of
attention.
• Currently there are 13 commercial or industrial properties on the demolition list. We can safely assume
that many of these properties will have special considerations to consider that will cause the cost of
demolition to be higher (ex: made of brick, potential for large amounts of contaminants, connected to
neighboring property, etc.).
▪ We do know where they are, we are working with EPA to address the Wilson Shirt Factory and
with IDEM to address Drewery’s. We are pleased to share that IDEM is involved. 90-day deadline
given from the date of Aug 27, 2019, with a 40-day inspection to check on progress.
▪ We need the funds to go through and do the inventory and prioritize these.
• The 2019 bids for removing the demo debris at Drewery’s gives us a good indication of the bids we may
see for demolition costs. The low bid for Drewery’s was $1.6 million. If we divide that $1.6million by the 5
buildings I believe were demolished that comes in at $320,000 per building to dispose of the debris.
Added cost needed to perform the demolition work.
• We also have an emergency demolition of a commercial structure at 1824 S Franklin that isn’t very large
and the cost for that demolition is near $167,000 in 2019.
• Demolition of the Fat Daddy’s building was $540,000 in 2019.
• Brownfields Coalition) disbanded, no longer an option. MACOG is an option only to the county, does not
include South Bend.
o How much was allocated for the Illegal Dumping Program that was instituted several years ago? How is the program
doing? What challenges have there been? What areas are seeing the highest levels of illegal dumping?
• Clarification: “Illegal Dumping” is the NEAT program. The 2020 budget for NEAT is $544,158
• Illegal dumping typically takes place in areas that are hidden from public view. We share tips for reducing
public dumping in our flyers, website and KBA page. Some tips include keeping vegetation cut back,
adding extra lighting to low visibility areas, and owner/manager checking on their property on a regular
basis, especially for vacant lots, or on lots with structures that are not being visited often.
• May help to make it easier for residents to have their trash removed. Ensure that special pickups are easy
to schedule and happen quickly. That it doesn’t matter if it a tenant or landlord calls for the pickup. This
would need Solid Waste’s attention.
• Code Enforcement should have access to special pickup requests in the field, so inspectors know not to
cite these properties. This would require the assistance of IT and has been mentioned as a want from
Code in the past.
• Potentially adding trash fees to taxes so that it is covered without a monthly payment. Owners could bill
back to tenants if needed. Goal is to avoid dumping.
• We have installed “No Dumping” signs in public areas that have been frequent illegal dump areas.
• We are working with Legal to enhance our option for writing tickets against persons believed to have
illegally dumped.
o How much of Allocation is going to IT?
• Ron answered: $80k CORRECTION: Actual increase for IT Allocations for final round is $104,905 – See
the last page of this document for Allocation increase/decrease breakdown
o $54,000 for SVDP tenant relocation - In update to Council, we want to know how much money has gone toward this.
• 2019 YTD $3,891.46
o When were the salaries last raised for the Director, Deputy Director, and Manager of Animal Resource Center?
• Aside from standard yearly increases (2%), the last time the Director, Deputy Director, and Manager of
Animal Resource Center were adjusted are as follows:
▪ Director of Code Enforcement: This position was given a 7% raise in 2014 (from $70,623 to
$75,567)
▪ Deputy Director of Code Enforcement: This position was created in 2017 with a salary of $75,000
and received a 2% increase in both 2018 and 2019
▪ Manager – Animal Resource Center: This position was created in 2014 with a salary of $47,501
and has received a 2% increase in every year since.
Questions from the Public
o Why are microchips going down 17%, was hoping that chip and tag program would come back?
• -17% represents projected revenue (aligned with prior years actuals), expenses for microchipping have
not been reduced. Revenues go down due to making it more affordable for people to have their pets
chipped.
o How much would it take to actually address the illegal dumping.
• The current budget is sufficient. Code Enforcement can continue to give residents tips to prevent people
from dumping on their properties, education on how dumping negatively impacts neighborhoods, issue
tickets as deterrents, and remove dumped debris. VPA can continue to place signs that warn of potential
fines for dumping.
• However, it is a community issue. The community needs to come together to change attitudes and
behaviors in the neighborhoods and help spread the understanding of the negative impacts of dumping. It
is not something that Code can address on its own.
• Owners of properties need to step up and be more responsible for their property(s). Whether that means
repairing their properties, demolishing their properties, keeping them clean and the yard mowed, or
maintaining them in a way that prevents dumping or other activities that negatively affect our
neighborhoods. Residents need to help change attitudes and behaviors in the community.
o What is the % of civil penalties issued on the west side? Can Civil penalties be shown by zip code?
• We are currently working on this. Simply displaying the number of Civil Penalties per zip code does not
accurately tell the story. We are working to include the age of the case, the number of times it has been to
a hearing and whether it is owned by a business or a private entity. This is a large project that means
merging information from multiple software programs. See attachment for the info we were able to
compile.
• There have been 2,926 hearings since January 1, 2017. In that time, 555 civil penalties were assessed.
• Over 40% of civil penalties are issued on properties where Code was unable to contact the owner of
record – the owner may be deceased, a dissolved LLC, or have used the property address as the mailing
address despite the property being abandoned.
• The zip codes with the most penalties were 46628 (136) and 46613 (116). While 46628 has a high number
of households with extremely low incomes, it does not have a high percentage of families living in
poverty. The second-highest zip code for civil penalties is 46613, which has a higher percentage of
families living in poverty, but lower absolute numbers of families with extremely low incomes.
• Most properties receiving a civil penalty have already been to a hearing. For the 2 zip codes above, over a
third of properties receiving civil penalties are owned by a business, including LLCs, banks, and retirement
funds.
o Can we document properties based on ownership?
• We have repeatedly requested a way to track ownership issues in our software program. Currently that
is not something we are able to do with our Accela software. With new software we want to be able to
track deceased owners, vacant houses and vacant lots.
•
o Neighborhood cleanup: We need more resources from Code regarding Neighborhood cleanup
• We are happy to work with any community organization, neighborhood, business on neighborhood
cleanups. It is up to these groups to promote the event and gather the volunteers- we push for a minimum
of 20. Code Enforcement provides the supplies, i.e. trash bags and gloves, and then we collect the bags of
trash from the volunteers and dispose of the trash. With the larger cleanups we are happy to also provide
personnel as needed.
.
o Can we put more pressure on the property owners to clean up their own sites?
• We utilize local ordinances and state statutes to apply increasing amounts of pressure for continued non-
compliant owners.
• The property that had bids come in at $1.6 million has been taken to hearings 7 times with the current
owner, had multiple Civil Penalties issued, multiple tickets issued, and multiple opportunities to provide a
plan to Code Enforcement. We do everything we can as ordinance and statutes are written to obtain
compliance from negligent owners.
• If we can find a way to help push legislation through that would prevent so many LLCs from forming or
allow municipalities to pierce the corporate veil more easily, we would likely have improved compliance
from investment owners. Financial penalties don’t work against LLCs when they can continue to dissolve
and create new LLCs to avoid payment.
2020 230.1201 230.1207 221.1208 230.1209 TOTAL
adm 92,978 36,362 20,365 149,705
print shop 6,088 1,751 66 7,905
it 472,357 64,867 537,224
Liab ins 36,059 13,257 788 50,104
payroll 76,927 76,927
fac mgmt 887 887
TOTAL 607,482 194,051 - 21,219 822,752
2019 1201 1207 1208 1209 TOTAL
adm 61,977 32,974 31,542 126,493
print shop 7,205 2,025 130 9,360
it 356,410 75,909 432,319
Liab ins 58,325 5,046 953 64,324
payroll 73,304 73,304
fac mgmt -
cent stor 4,488 6,491 2,268 13,247
TOTAL 488,405 195,749 - 34,893 719,047
2020 Change 1201 1207 1208 1209 TOTAL
adm 31,001 3,388 (11,177) 23,212
print shop (1,117) (274) (64) (1,455)
it 115,947 (11,042) - 104,905
Liab ins (22,266) 8,211 (165) (14,220)
payroll - 3,623 3,623
fac mgmt - 887 887
cent stor (4,488) (6,491) (2,268) (13,247)
TOTAL 119,077 (1,698) - (13,674) 103,705
119,077 (1,698) - (13,674) - 103,705
DIVISION
DIVISION
second round
INTERFUND ALLCOATION COMPARATIVE WORKSHEET
CODE ENFORCEMENT
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020 AND 2019
DIVISION