A. Pursuant to Cal. Gov’t Code § 54988 and Cal. Health & Safety Code § 17951 (and any successor statute thereto), the Building Code, and any other applicable local, State, or Federal law, as well as by the City’s police powers as authorized by the California Constitution, the City may charge and collect Code Enforcement Fees from responsible persons who cause, allow, permit, suffer, or maintain a violation in or upon any real property located within the City to defray the City’s costs of code enforcement actions. Such fees shall not exceed the amount reasonably required to achieve this objective and are chargeable whether the City’s code enforcement actions occur in the absence of formal administrative or judicial proceedings, as well as prior to, during, or subsequent to, the initiation of such proceedings.
1. The amount(s) or rate(s) of Code Enforcement Fees for City Personnel time and other resources that are used for code enforcement actions shall be established, and may thereafter be amended, by resolution by the City Council.
2. The fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any other fees or charges that responsible persons may owe in accordance with any other provision of the this Code, or which are imposed pursuant to County, State or Federal laws or regulations.
B. The City shall keep an accounting of the Code Enforcement Fees and shall serve a Statement of Code Enforcement Fees upon the responsible persons. The issuance, service, and contest of a Statement of Code Enforcement Fees and the payment and collection of Code Enforcement Fees shall be made in the same manner and in the same time frames as for the issuance, service, and contest of a Statement of Abatement Costs and for the payment and collection of Abatement Costs as set forth in §§ 9.04.105 through 9.04.125 of this Code.
C. The City Manager, or a designee thereof, is authorized to establish regulations for the uniform imposition of Code Enforcement Fees, and for related administrative actions pertaining to such fees.
D. Code Enforcement Fees shall also be recoverable in conjunction with any action, administrative proceeding, judicial proceeding, or special proceeding to cause the abatement or cessation of, or otherwise to remove a violation or a public nuisance, and is not limited to those proceedings wherein City Personnel perform the necessary abatement actions.
E. Failure to pay Code Enforcement Fees shall constitute a debt that is collectible in any manner allowed by law, including, but not limited to the recordation of a lien with the County Recorder’s Office and/or with the California Franchise Tax Board “Inter-Agency Offset Program” (pursuant to Section Cal. Gov’t Code § 12419.10).
F. The City shall be entitled to recover its attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to § 9.04.145 of this Chapter arising from an action to collect Code Enforcement Fees imposed in accordance with this Chapter, as well as any other fee or charge imposed or allowed by any City, County, State, or Federal laws or regulations.
(Ord. No. 2013-009, § 4 (part))