Authorizes the city of Lockport to add unpaid housing code violation penalties, costs and fines to such city's annual tax levy; provides the city of Lockport shall notify all owners or known interested parties of record of the placement of the code violations on the city tax levy as uncollected fines and penalties within thirty days of placement.
This bill authorizes the City of Lockport to collect unpaid housing, building, and fire code violation penalties, costs, and fines by placing them on the city’s annual tax levy. To do so, the unpaid amounts must already have been reduced to a court judgment, recorded by the county clerk, and remain unpaid for at least one year after final adjudication and exhaustion of appeals. The bill also requires the city to notify owners and known interested parties within 30 days after placement on the levy, and it sets out the information that notice must contain, including the amount owed and the foreclosure process if the debt remains unpaid.
The bill includes several limits and protections. It excludes owner-occupied residential dwellings and primary residences of homeowners from this collection method, allows payment plans, and requires the city to create a tenant assistance program before placing at-risk properties on the levy. It also provides that if violations are cured before the redemption period expires, the property must be removed from the levy and foreclosure cannot proceed for the code debt alone. If a property is sold at tax foreclosure, surplus funds attributable to code-violation debt may be returned to the former owner under local law, and any remaining balance may still be pursued under applicable law.
The bill would amend the Real Property Tax Law by adding a new section specifically authorizing Lockport to treat certain unpaid code enforcement debts like tax-levy items for collection and foreclosure purposes. It would give those penalties, costs, and fines the same lien and enforcement treatment as municipal taxes once placed on the levy, while also establishing procedural requirements for notice, redemption, surplus distribution, and tenant protections. The measure is local in scope and applies only to the City of Lockport, with an exclusion for municipalities that sell tax liens in a tax sale.
No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or formal support/opposition in the materials. Based on the bill text, the measure appears designed to strengthen code enforcement collection while also incorporating safeguards for owner-occupied homes, tenants, and payment plans, suggesting an attempt to balance enforcement with hardship protections. The overall framing is administrative and remedial rather than punitive, with a focus on recovering unpaid municipal code debts.
The main policy tension is between giving Lockport a stronger collection tool and avoiding foreclosure on residential property, especially homes occupied by their owners or tenants. Supporters would likely emphasize improved code compliance and municipal revenue collection, while critics may worry about using the tax levy and foreclosure process to collect non-tax debts. The bill addresses some of those concerns by exempting owner-occupied homes, requiring tenant relocation assistance, allowing payment plans, and permitting cure of violations before foreclosure, but the use of tax-collection machinery for code fines remains the central point of potential contention.