Editorial: Lake Worth’s code enforcement department condemned | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Mr. Marra at the keyboard again. This time he includes these factoids:

Most fines for code violations are never paid, and the city makes no effort to collect them. To date, more than $40 million in fines are outstanding. Notorious properties in dangerous disrepair are left untouched, without any attempt to follow up with owners or foreclose on them. Instead, code enforcement officers simply continue tacking on fines they know will never be paid. The report cites the case of one house that for years racked up more than $1 million in fines. Apparently unbeknownst to the department, the building was demolished eight years ago, leaving only an empty lot.
The city’s code enforcement department prohibits anonymous complaints. To express concerns about dangerous conditions in your neighborhood, you have to leave your name. The audit correctly excoriated this policy as “directly counter to the basic precepts of a self-policing community.” It chided the rule as a danger to the city’s own residents, since “significant code violations may go unreported if residents fear for their safety should they be on record as the complainants.”

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