Machesney Park OKs new junk car law

Vehicles that are not street legal or are broken down must be kept in garages.

By Kevin Haas
RRSTAR.COM

MACHESNEY PARK — If your car doesn’t belong on the street, then it can’t stay in your driveway either.

The Machesney Park Village Board voted unanimously Monday in favor of a new law that requires broken-down vehicles or ones that aren’t street legal to be stored inside a garage. Violators face fines.

The goal for village officials is to improve the look of neighborhoods and increase property values by keeping potentially unsightly vehicles out of sight.

Some residents approve
Residents Karen and Don Schmoll said they were pleased to see the law pass because inoperable cars can be a neighborhood eyesore.

“I didn’t build a $160,000 home and move into a decent neighborhood so that I can have junk parked next door to me in the driveway,” Don Schmoll said.

They said broken down vehicles that are allowed to be kept outside of a garage can also lower property values.

Others have complained the law is burdensome for those who can’t afford to make repairs immediately.

“We live in a developing subdivision that’s still not filled in,” Don Schmoll said. “It should affect the people that are out there looking to buy a new home, too, because they don’t want to see that either.”

It’s a tougher version of the village’s previous law, which allowed inoperable vehicles to be stored within an enclosure.

Tougher law helps police
The previous law allowed broken down cars, stock cars and all-terrain vehicles to sit in driveways, so long as they were surrounded by a fence or covered with a tarp. Those vehicles must all be stored within a garage now.

The new law helps sheriff’s police and the village enforce complaints from residents, said Deputy Chief Rocco Wagner, who leads the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department’s Machesney Division.

Staff writer Kevin Haas can be reached at khaas@rrstar.com or 815-987-1354.

What you need to know
The new law: All inoperable motor vehicles, whether on public or private property, must be stored in a garage. Any not stored in a garage will be declared a public nuisance.

What it applies to: Vehicles that are unable to move under their own power for at least 10 days. It also applies to vehicles that are not “street operable,” which means they lack necessary equipment to operate legally on public roads. That includes stock cars and all-terrain vehicles.

Penalties: The village may tow the vehicle after 10 days’ notice. The owner will be charged a $200 administrative fee and additional fees to cover towing and storage costs.

The village also could issue a $100 fine for a first offense. A second offense could result in a $200 fine, with a third offense costing $500. Each day the vehicle is not moved can be considered a separate offense.

NEWS SOURCE

Washoe County proceeds with junk car ordinance

RENO, Nev. Nev.—Washoe County officials are working out the details of a new ordinance they say will help control suburban blight by requiring junk vehicles be hidden from view.

Once in place, officials said the county will be in a stronger position to rid blight from the unincorporated communities surrounding Reno and Sparks.

After a last-minute rally by Hot August Nights car buffs in late October, the county commission backed down on an ordinance change proposed by its planning staff that had set a limit of no more than two junk cars per lot.

The commission agreed it would set no limit on vehicles as long as they can't be seen by the public.

With such a significant change, the draft ordinance had to be rewritten. It will be introduced Dec. 8 and a final vote is scheduled for Jan. 12.

A companion ordinance approved in September will allow the county to hire administrative hearing officers to hear these nuisance cases, uphold fines and eventually order abatement of a property and put on a lien to recover the cost when the land is sold.

Currently, the county puts no limit on the number of junk cars you can have, as long as they are screened from view from the front of the property or a nearby street.

But some critics like Susan Severt question how the new ordinance and added restrictions will help.

She points to property at the north end of Sun Valley Boulevard with backyard full of junk trailers, cars and trucks and more trailers lined up in a gully.

"This has been here for years and years," Severt, who has led a fight against blight in Sun Valley for a decade, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "This is probably one of our biggest offenders. But he can have as many as he wants as long as you can't see them."

In defining nuisances, a citizens committee including Severt worked 22 months on a draft ordinance that set an upper limit of one junk car per acre for a maximum of 50 vehicles.

"There should be a quantifiable measure," she said.

Severt said she's not offended by someone hauling in a car to take off parts to fix a vehicle or having several piles of construction materials while renovating their home.

But when the junk takes over, it encourages others to pile up their yards with clutter.

"You know it, when you see it," she said of a property that has become a junkyard. "It's not the norm."

NEWS SOURCE

Trustees race muddled with junk car spat

SANDUSKY TOWNSHIP -- Sandusky Township trustees question the ethics of two men running for trustee on the November ballot.

Mike Gabler, 920 S. Horning Road, and Roy Campo, 209 S. Horning Road, attended a meeting last September passing out information regarding junk cars. Campo, with the support of Gabler, claimed the information came from the Ohio Revised Code. The pair is running against incumbent trustees Dan Gorbett and Phil Jackson.

Campo's information, which cited an ordinance on junk vehicle abatement, claimed he was entitled to four vehicles on private property of two acres or greater.

"We'd never heard of this before and so, at the time, we weren't really sure what to say," Jackson said. "We just said we would get back to him on the issue."

After research, Jackson said the ordinances Campo cited were referenced from Clallam County, in the state of Washington.

"It actually was an old (Revised Code of Washington) and doesn't even exist today," Gorbett said.

A letter was mailed out immediately to all citizens who attended the meeting, providing them with the accurate information. Gorbett said the township has had continual problems with junk cars on Campo's property.

Jackson said they've received numerous complaints, including one from Campo's wife.

Trustee Tom Glauer said Campo has not returned to a meeting since.

Neither Gabler nor Campo returned calls from the News Journal.

"Campo and Gabler should know better than to pass off zoning aspects of Washington's state law as an Ohio law to support their claims," Gorbett said. "If they were unaware they were presenting false documentation by using Washington state laws then they may struggle with other aspects of the trustee job."

"This was a feeble attempt to sidestep resident-approved zoning regulations by handing out false information," Jackson said. "We (Sandusky Township) have a lot of car enthusiasts, and unless there is a complaint, we have no issues with it. When there is a complaint however, we look into it, as we were elected to do. Mr. Campo's case was an extreme one and it was moving from a hobby to a junk yard."

jkinton@nncogannett.com 419-521-7220

NEW SOURCE

Jackson court tackles problem properties

"We took him to court, and the judge fined him $50, plus $170 in court costs," said Martin, a code enforcement officer for the city of Jackson.

"The guy was laughing at us when he heard that. It didn't register with him that the charges were per vehicle. When he walked over to the clerk to pay, it was a mind-blowing experience."

The car guy's mind was blown by more than $3,000 in fines assessed in Environmental Court - a specialty tribunal that has been a fixture in Jackson since 1992.

The argument for environmental courts is getting a hearing in other Mississippi cities as well.

Edward Martin remembers the case well: The guy refused to remove 15 or 20 cars parked on his lawn, a violation of a city ordinance.

Advocates say problems such as trashy lawns, tumbledown houses, junk-car yards, unscreened Dumpsters, abandoned buildings, illegal dumps and even dogs on the loose are more likely to be resolved wherever these courts are in session.

That's because violators are more likely to face the threat of fines and, occasionally, jail time for their offenses, supporters say.

Usually, those threats get their attention.

"By the time they get to our court, they usually have multiple offenses," said Jackson Municipal Judge Bob Waller, who has conducted Environmental Court hearings.

"Sometimes their excuses for not taking care of the problem is they didn't have the money or they just didn't want to do it. It's mostly parking cars in
the yard, junk cars in the driveway, cars with flats.

"We do have a lot of abandoned property in Jackson, too. Crackheads use them," Waller said.

In Jackson, Environmental Court fines vary according to a judge's discretion, but a person caught illegally dumping debris, for instance, could be fined up to $1,000 and receive up to six months in jail.

Jackson's court administrator could not provide an estimate for the amount of fines collected monthly.

No one has been fined yet in Gulfport's Environmental Court; it cranked up just last week.

"Until now, our Municipal Court was responsible for abandoned cars, unsafe properties and other quality-of-life issues," said Ryan LaFontaine, city spokesman. The growth of those problems has become more profound, especially since Hurricane Katrina.

NEWS SOURCE

Sioux Falls has harsh penalties for violators

By Emilie Rusch, Journal staff

The state’s largest city also has some of the harshest penalties for residents who refuse to keep their properties up to code.

Whether it is building problems or public nuisances, Code Enforcement has the ability to issue $100 civil citations if no effort to fix the problem occurs within 10 to 14 days, code enforcement officer Brad Hartmann said.

Fines ratchet up to $200 after the second 10 to 14 days of no action and to $300 after the third 10 to 14 days. After that, offenders can be ticketed $300 every day until the property is cleaned up.

“We work with people if they’re willing to work with us,” Hartmann said. “The fines are only automatic if they don’t do anything.”

Hartmann said most code enforcement is complaint-driven, but every spring, the city chooses two neighborhoods for proactive clean-up programs.

Residents in the specific areas can then leave any junk out at the curb — including tires, vehicle parts and appliances — for free pickup by street crews formed from volunteers from various city departments.

Afterwards, code enforcement officers survey the neighborhoods looking for any leftover violations that need to be addressed.

In April, Project Neighborhood Improvement/ Complaint Easement and Project Keep Environmental Enhancement Permanent removed 355 truckloads of rubble, eight loads of tires and eight loads of appliances from two neighborhoods, according to the city’s Web site.

“We can only enforce what city ordinance says,” Hartmann said. “Just because one person doesn’t like the color of the curtains, we can’t change that. But if there’s a complaint about a junk car, or the grass is over eight inches or they’re parking on their lawn — which is illegal in Sioux Falls — we investigate it.”

Bismarck: Clean-Up Week helpsThe North Dakota capital has found luck with a citywide junk collection program similar to that in Sioux Falls every spring and fall.

During Clean-Up Week, all city residents can leave whatever trash and junk they have on the curb for free pickup. The fall clean-up was Sept. 21-26, said Mel Fischer, administrator of the city’s Environmental Health Division. The division is part of the Bismarck

Fire Department.

“I drove by a house this morning and saw two complete PCs with four printers on the boulevard, waiting to be picked up, ready to go,” Fischer said. “There is a great awareness of the program.”

Before the spring clean-up, environmental health officers do an annual “spring survey,” a proactive pass through the city to identify and contact property owners about violations. Year-round, Environmental Health also works closely with the city Public Works Department, which acts as a second set of eyes when out doing normal garbage collection.

In the past four years, Bismarck has gained greater authority to deal with overgrown grass and weeds on residential and commercial properties, Fischer said. Neither can be longer than eight inches.

If property owners do not trim their grass by June 1, July 15 and Sept. 1 — the city’s “cut-by” dates — a city contractor will mow it without notifying residents first. This year, the minimum mowing cost is $74 — $64 per hour plus a $10 administrative fee.

The program, which has been generally well-received in the community, has freed the division’s limited staff to spend more time on other code violations, Fischer said.

“We used to get 1,500 calls a year or more. Then, we’d have to go out and verify the call and get a map ready, give it to a contractor, make sure the contractor cut it. Sometimes, it was four trips out to the parcel,” Fischer said.

“Our goal is just to have it done. If it’s done by someone else, that’s great. We’re not interested in making money in this.”

Saranac Lake plans to auction abandoned vehicles

By CHRIS KNIGHT, Enterprise Senior Staff Writer

SARANAC LAKE - The village is planning to auction 18 cars and trucks, more than a dozen of which were seized by the police department under the village's junk car law.

The date of the auction hasn't been set, but village mechanic Wayne Voudren is working with Blanchard's Auction Service in Potsdam to try and schedule it some- time in early October.

Five of the vehicles were village owned and have been replaced, Voudren said. The remaining 13 were abandoned throughout the village and seized by police.

Voudren said only two of the vehicles are in running condition.

"Most of them are junk," he said. "People just leave garbage in them and, for whatever reason, just walk away."

Saranac Lake Police Chief Bruce Nason said the 13 abandoned cars and trucks had been seized over the past year-and-a-half using the village's junk-car ordinance.

"The majority were done in 2008," he said. "We picked up another three or four in February when we cleaned out the municipal lot off Dorsey Street for snow removal. The others just trickle in."

If police spot a vehicle that has no license plates and isn't registered, an officer will try to make contact with the vehicle's owner or the property owner, Nason said. If that person can't be immediately located, a bright yellow tag is left on the vehicle asking the owner to contact police. If there's still no response, a certified letter is sent to the last known owner of the vehicle, giving him or her 10 days to respond. If no action is taken after 10 days, Nason said the vehicle will be towed to the village impound, located behind the sewer plant.

The owner of a tagged vehicle may also apply for a six-month storage permit if they're trying to repair or sell the vehicle. But if that six months goes by and no action is taken, the vehicle can be seized by the village.

Nason said police handle reports of potentially abandoned vehicles on a regular basis.

"It is ongoing," he said. "I think we've talked with at least three people in the last month about vehicles that were not licensed that we have not already tagged."

The village board agreed last week to sell both the abandoned vehicles as well as the five village-owned vehicles at auction. Mayor Tom Michael said the number of abandoned vehicles that will be put up for auction is a "testament to the police department's stepped-up patrols."

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Contact Chris Knight at 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.

NEWS SOURCE

Don't complain; be happy with Cash for Clunkers savings

By KEN MORRIS
Special to The Oakland Press

Just how successful was the Car Allowance Rebate System, otherwise known as Cash for Clunkers program? According to the official government Web site, it was wildly successful.

It claims that nearly 700,000 so-called clunkers were taken off the road and replaced by far more fuel-efficient vehicles. And that $2.877 billion worth of rebate applications were submitted prior to the final deadline, just under the $3 billion Congress allocated for the program.

Many dealers, on the other hand, were not so wildly thrilled. Their main complaint is that the government is way behind on the paperwork. They have not been anywhere near fully compensated in the timely manner they were expecting.

Then there are the consumers, specifically Michigan consumers. How do they feel? To my surprise, I’ve heard complaints from a number of program participants. They’re unhappy that they had to pay sales tax on the full purchase price.

Without question, a new car is a big-ticket item. That means big sales tax, and the state of Michigan coffers likely received a sizeable influx of tax revenue. In a state desperate for revenue, it clearly had to help.

So why complain when the sales tax paid was exactly the same that would have been paid if there were no CARS program? After all, our state tax code has remained consistent.

For example, if you privately sold a used car to an individual, the new purchaser pays tax on it. For a $5,000 used car with a 6 percent rate, the sales tax would be $300. If you traded in that same vehicle at the dealership and bought a new $30,000 car, you would pay sales tax on the entire amount. You don’t get to deduct $5,000.

Some states do let you deduct the value of the trade-in and just pay tax on the difference, but in Michigan it’s always been the full purchase price. You pay sales tax on the entire $30,000 even though there is a $5,000 trade-in.

When you crunch the numbers, the difference is not really all that great. Sales tax on $30,000 would be $1,800. With a maximum credit of $4,500, you’d pay taxes on $25,500, or $1,530. With a difference of just $270, I’m surprised that some Cash for Clunkers participants were disappointed. My personal belief is you should pay taxes on the full purchase price and be happy that you benefited from the program. Don’t find fault with it.

In this economic environment, there are a lot of financial issues to complain about. Having to pay sales tax on the full price of a vehicle shouldn’t be one of them.

The Cash for Clunkers program had a lot of winners, including eligible buyers, state coffers, and an ailing auto industry.

The only loser I see is a national debt that continues to climb at an alarming rate. Hopefully, vehicle sales will continue on their own merit without any tax stimulation. If you benefited from the program, by all means be thrilled and don’t complain.

Be thankful you don’t live in one of the states that collects income tax on the $4,500 credit and enjoy your new car.

Fax your questions to Ken Morris at 248-952-1848 or e-mail to ken.morris@investfinancial.com. Ken is a registered representative of INVEST Financial, member FINRA, SIPC and is Vice-President of the Society for Lifetime Planning in Troy.

NEWS SOURCE