Agenda 10/13/2009 Item #10C
Agenda Item No. 10C
October 13, 2009
Page 1 of 6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To report to the Board of County Commissioners (Board) on the status of the Rental
Registration late fee rebate program that was initiated at the direction of the Board and to
request that the Board of County Commissioners provide guidance to the County Manager
or his designee affirming stafPs recommendation to eliminate the Rental Registration
program and in doing so direct staff to amend the Property Maintenance Ordinance to
eliminate the Rental Registration Program as set forth in Section 22-264 of the Collier
County Code of Laws and Ordinances and as established by Section Seven of Ordinance 04-
58, as amended.
OBJECTIVE: To provide an update on the rental registration late fee rebate program as
directed by the Board at the September 9, 2008 Board of County Commissioner meeting, and in
addition, to obtain the Board's guidance whether to amend the Property Maintenance Ordinance
to repeal the Rental Registration Program as set forth in Section 22-264, Rental dwelling unit
registration requirements and procedures, a sub-element of Article VII, Housing Code, Chapter
22, Buildings and Building Regulations, of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances and
as established by Section Seven of Ordinance 04-58, Property Maintenance Ordinance, as
amended.
CONSIDERATION: On October 23, 2007, under Agenda Item 10M, the Board approved an
amendment to Paragraph "00" of the Collier County Community Development and
Environmental Services Fee Schedule related to fees for registration ofrental units. Based on that
direction staff applied the following fees to the 2008 rental registration program.
AO) REGISTRATION OF RENTAL DWELLINGS
1) Thefeefor registration of rental dwellings is asfollows:
a. Initial Registration Fee - $30.00 per property
b. Annual Renewal- $20.00 per property
c. Annual Late Fee $10.00 per day per property up to a maximum of $80.
d. The term "property ,.. means a parcel with any number of "rental units"
located thereupon.
e. A "rental unit" is any dwelling that is not owner occupied, but, occupied by
someone other than the owner for any portion of a calendar year.
2) Rental Inspection
a. Rental Inspection - $ 200.00 per unit
b. Re-inspection fee - $ 50.00 per re-inspection per unit
c. Rental inspections shall not be required for rental units covered by a
Florida Department c<f Business and Professional Regulation ("DBPR ")
license. A copy qf the DBPR in.spection report shall be provided with the
initial rental registration and all subsequent rentals.
.---
Agenda Item No. 10C
October 13. 2009
Page 2 of 6
Per Board direction, the amended Fee Schedule was to be applied to the Rental Registration
Program for the 2008 renewal period only and it deferred the decision on the collection of
renewal late fees for the renewal period of 2006 and 2007 until conclusion of the Rental
Registration Program investigation. Subsequently, at the June 10, 2008 meeting, under Agenda
Item 10 F, staff returned to the Board to receive guidance on how to retroactively apply the late
fee ($10 per day per property up to a maximum of $80) to all delinquent accounts for 2005, 2006
and 2007 and to seek guidance on whether staff should initiate a refund program for those
property owners who may have overpaid late fees. At that meeting the Board directed that all
past late fees related to delinquent accounts regardless of the year of registration be assessed
retroactively at the current fee of $10 per day per property up to a maximum of $80 but deferred
any decision regarding a refund program until staff had assessed the potential scale of such a
refund program.
On September 9, 2008, under Agenda Item I 0 B, staff reported to the Board that the potential
scale of a proposed Rental Registration refund of late fees paid in excess of $80 for the period of
Fiscal Years 2005 through 2007 to potentially involve 584 refunds at a dollar value not to exceed
$101,990. Following that report, the Board directed that staff send letters to the registrants to
notify them of the potential late fee overpayment and advise them of how to apply for a refund.
Given that direction, staff sent out 584 letters notifying applicants of late fee overpayment and to
date has processed and verified a total of 127 claims at a total refund amount of$18,150. These
refunds are currently being issued from dedicated FY 20 10 CDES budgetary allocations which
became available on Oct 1,2009.
In regards to the Rental Registration Program, the program was first adopted by the County in
1996, at which time all properties that were not being occupied by the owner were required to
register with Code Enforcement and provide a local contact in the event of violations. The
ordinance has been modified over the years to implement improvements to the program including
distinguishing between the impact of a single unit rental property and a multi-unit project.
Basically, the program was put in place to provide a means to maintain an active and up to date
roster of owners of rental properties for Code Enforcement to more expeditiously contact the
property owners to correct violations found on their rental property. Collier County is one of
approximately 20 jurisdictions within the State of Florida that has such a program.
At the conclusion of a workshop on December 2, 2002, the Board directed staff to develop an
ordinance. that addresses abandoned commercial buildings and properties. Subsequently, the
Board adopted a Property Maintenance Ordinance. In an effort to make enforcement of the
ordinance more efficient and to provide one document for the public in the event information
related to these provisions are sought by the public, staff proposed and the Board approved a
proposal to repeal all the ordinances and consolidate all the relevant ordinances into one unified
document. The current rental registration program was approved as part of that initiative as
Section Seven of Ordinance 04-58 and is now codified as Section 22-232, Article VI of Chapter
22, of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances. In summation, the ordinance requires
the registration and periodic inspection of rental properties where violations are found to ensure
the continued maintenance thereof and prevent a reactive approach where Code Enforcement is
2
Agenda Item NO.1 OC
October 13. 2009
Page 3 of 6
asked to get involved only after the problem is considered severe.
As part of the FY05 budget staff added an additional FTE to perform the property inspections and
fees were established to offset the costs of the additional field investigator as well as the
administrative staff needed to support this program. When the program was first established, the
fees generated through registrations along with the assessed late fees adequately supported the
program. With the late fees being modified to no greater than $80 and with the change in the
registration fee from $20 per unit to $20 per property the revenue generated is not sufficient to
totally support the progran1 and as such the additional costs to administrator the program are
absorbed in the general fund budget within the Code Enforcement Department. In FY08 the
revenue received from the rental registration program was $155,150 representing a total of 5,065
rental registrations. The cost to administer the rental registration program in FY08 was
approximately $250,000 which included 3 FTE's (1 Rental Registration Operations Coordinator
and 2 Code Investigators).
Staff has already sent out the notification letters to every registered rental property owner to
notify the owners of the 2009-2010 registration year to include registration requirements and
applicable fees. Staff notified the previous year registrants of the requirement to register rental
properties and for those owners failing to re-register staff follows-up with a second notice and a
personal contact by a customer service specialist to determine if the property is still a rental unit.
The number of current registrations for FY09 is 4,254 which include 425 newly issued
registrations this fiscal year. To date, the revenue for FY09 was $135,500 from 4,254
registrations. These FY09 costs for just the administrative part of the rental registration progran1,
including office personnel expenses and operating supplies, and the costs for the additional
temporary staff used to process and record the registrations and process fee payments, totals
approximately $86,000. This cost does not include the additional costs of the field investigators
to enforce the rental registration program as the two investigators assigned to the program have
been diverted from enforcing this progran1 to enforcing the overall operational programs related
to the enforcement of the Property Maintenance Ordinance as well as the foreclosure crisis and
the related Blight Prevention Program.
Given staffs ability to exploit property records the resources available today to easily identify the
owners of rental properties that are deemed to be in violation of the Property Maintenance
Standards, staff believes that it is more effective to use the existing general fund dollars being
invested in this program to focus on proactive prevention of substandard rental properties in lieu
of devoting staff time and effort on the registration process and needed follow-up to effectively
track and monitor owners who fail to register their properties.
In conclusion, staff believes that there is little benefit to the rental registration program and
considering that the cost to administer the overall program exceeds the revenue generated, staff is
requesting that the Board direct the County Manager or his designee to amend the Property
Maintenance Ordinance to repeal the rental registration requirement. Staff recommends that the
inspection fee as noted in the fee schedule remain and that the inspection program remain in the
ordinance. Staff will continue to apply and enforce the inspection program for those properties
-
3
Agenda Item No. 10C
October 13. 2009
Page 4 of 6
where inspections are needed based on complaints of residents or observations of the code
enforcement investigator for properties identified as failing to comply with the Property
Maintenance Standards pursuant to the existing code.
FISCAL IMPACT: The total budget for this program in the FY09 budget was $257,410 which
included 3 FTE's (I Rental Registration Operations Coordinator and 2 Code Investigators).
FY09 program revenue was budgeted at $500,000 based on the original fee schedules that were in
effect at the time the budget was prepared. Program revenue details for FY09 and FYIO are as
follows:
Rental Housing (initial)
Rental Housing (renewal)
Rental Renewal (late)
Totals:
FY09 Adopted
$ 80,000
$400,000
$ 20,000
~ $500,000
FY09 Actual
$ 24,050
$ 87,570
$ 23,910
$135,530
FY10 Forecasted
$ 130,000
$ 30,000
$ 30,000
$ 190,000
The actual revenue for FY09 was far less than projected based on the changes made to both the
registration fees and applicable late fees. The FY 10 budget was approved with one Rental
Registration Coordinator. Code enforcement (investigations) of the program was essentially
integrated into each of the five area investigator teams and into the overall Blight Prevention
Program. Termination of the program will create a projected revenue shortfall of $190,000 into
Fund 111, revenue projected to offset the overall general operating funding for the Code
Enforcement Department as well as the funding of the assigned Operations Coordinator.
The projected rental administrative expenses for FYI0 including office personnel expenses and
operating supplies, the costs for the additional temporary staff used to process and record the
registrations and process fee payments, totals approximately $90,000. The total savings to the
county related to the elimination of this program will only be realized by eliminating all associated
administrative expenses and by eliminating the Operations Coordinator FTE associated with the
administration of the program. The incumbent in this position will either relocate to an existing
non-Fund III position funded in the FY 2010 budget or released from County employment. The
remaining $100,000 shortfall will be absorbed by the FY 10 Code Enforcement Fund 111
operating budget and justified through the operational need to continue to focus the assigned
Property Maintenance and Rental Registration investigator staff on the Blight Prevention
initiatives.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: This item does not raise any legal Issues. The County
Attorney's Office will work with staff to implement Board direction. -JAK
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMP ACT: There is no growth management impact associated
with this Executive Summary.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board accept the staff report on the current status of the late
fee refund program and in doing so direct staff to continue to terminate the rental registration
4
Agenda Item No. 10C
October 13, 2009
Page 5 of 6
refund program on or about November 1, 2009, recognizing that staff has exhausted all efforts to
contact those property owners that were identified as possibly overpaying the applicable late fees.
Also, that the Board direct the County Manager or his designee to amend the Ordinance which
would repeal the requirements for the Rental Registration Program as set forth in Section 22-264
of the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinance and as established by Section Seven of
Ordinance 04-58, as amended, prior to the 20 10 / 2011 rental registration period.
Prepared Bv: Joseph K, Schmitt, Administrator, CDES
5
Item Number:
Item Summary:
Meeting Date:
Agenda Item No. 10C
October 13, 2009
Page 6 of 6
COLLIER COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
i0C
To report to the Board of County Commissioners (Board) on the status of the Rental
Registration late fee rebate program that was initiated at the direction of the Board and to
request that the Board of County Commissioners provide guidance to the County Manager or
his designee affirming staffs recommendation to eliminate the Rental Registration program
and in doing so direct staff to amend the Property Maintenance Ordinance to eliminate the
Rental Registration Program as set forth in Section 22-264 of the Collier County Code of
Laws and Ordinances and as established by Section Seven of Ordinance 04-58, as
amended. (Joe Schmitt, Community Development Administrator)
10/13/2009 9:00:00 AM
Prepared By
Joseph K. Schmitt
Community Development &
Environmental Services
Community Development &
Environmental Services Adminstrator
Date
Community Development &
Environmental Services Admin.
9117120095:19:04 PM
Approved By
Judy Puig
Community Development &
Environmental Services
Operations Analyst
Community Development &
Environmental Services Admin.
Date
Approved By
10/212009 5: 02 PM
Joseph K. Schmitt
Community Development &
Environmental Services
Community Development &
Environmental Services Adminstrator
Date
Community Development &
Environmental Services Admin.
1014/20095:43 PM
Approved By
Garrett Mullee
Community Development &
Environmental Services
Financial Operations Manager
Date
Financial Admin. & Housing
10/51200911:15 AM
Approved By
OMB Coordinator
County Manager's Office
OMB Coordinator
Date
Office of Management & Budget
1015/200912:00 PM
Approved By
Jeff Klatzkow
County Attorney
County Attorney
Date
County Attorney Office
10/5/2009 1 :12 PM
Approved By
John A. Yonkosky
County Manager's Office
Director of the Office of Management
Date
Office of Management & Budget
101512009 2:36 PM