8.16.310 Code enforcement fees.
(1) Pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 17951, and any successor statute thereto, responsible persons who cause, allow, permit, suffer, or maintain a violation in, or upon, residential properties shall be charged fees (hereafter “code enforcement fees”) by the city to defray its 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.
(a) Nothing in this section shall be construed to inhibit or prevent the city from assessing code enforcement fees against and/or collecting code enforcement fees from those responsible persons who cause, allow, permit, suffer, or maintain a public nuisance or other violation of this code in or upon any commercial, industrial, or other real property in order to defray its costs of code enforcement actions.
(2) Pursuant to California Government Code Section 54988, and any successor statute thereto, the city may assess and collect any fee, cost, or charge incurred in any of the following:
(a) The abatement of public nuisances;
(b) The correction of any violation of any law, regulation, or local ordinance that would also be a violation of Section 1941.1 of the Civil Code;
(c) The enforcement of zoning ordinances adopted pursuant to California Government Code Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 65800) of Division 1 of Title 7 or any other constitutional authority;
(d) Inspections and abatement of violations of Article 1 (commencing with Section 13100) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 12 of the Health and Safety Code regulations or ordinances adopted pursuant to that article;
(e) Inspections and abatement of violations of the State Housing Law Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910) of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code regulations or ordinances adopted pursuant to that part;
(f) Inspections and abatement of violations of the California Building Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations);
(g) Inspections and abatement related to local ordinances and regulations that implement any of the foregoing.
(3) 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.
(4) The city manager, or a designee thereof, is authorized to adopt regulations for the uniform imposition of code enforcement fees, and for related administrative actions pertaining to such fees.
(5) 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 this code, or which are imposed pursuant to county, state or federal laws or regulations.
(6) Code enforcement fees shall be recoverable in conjunction with any civil, administrative or criminal action to abate, cause the abatement or cessation of, or otherwise remove a violation or a public nuisance, and is not limited to those proceedings whereby city personnel perform the necessary abatement actions.
(7) Failure to pay code enforcement fees shall constitute a debt that is collectible in any manner allowed by law. (Ord. 675 § 3, 2018).