GREAT BEND — Bruce Ball received a bill for over $1,800 from the City of Great Bend after a piece of property he owns had trash and refuse removed. 2418 Lakin Avenue is rented out, but owned by Ball.
After being notified by the city, Ball asked the renter to remove the refuse that included a washer and a hot tub. The tenant cleared the washer from the yard and broke the hot tub into smaller pieces for hauling purposes but never removed the hot tub.
The abatement was approved by the Great Bend City Council at the Dec. 6 meeting.
Because the city did not have the manpower to abate the property
themselves, they put the project out for bids and received one bid for $1,500. The
city then assigned their fees on top of the contractor’s.
"When I was talking with code enforcement, they only had one person to
bid it to," said Ball. "They said 'it sounds kind of expensive to me
too, but it's not my money.' I think this is a really poor way of
dealing with stuff."
Ball was puzzled on how the charge to remove the broken-up hot tub could cost
so much as he noted it would take someone no longer than an hour to haul it
away.
According to the city’s ordinance, a first time charge for removing refuse comes with a $100 per hour fee for the labor, $200 administrative fee and $10 for equipment. Instead of a bill for $310, Ball received a charge for $1,810 because the city did not have the manpower to do it themselves.
Mayor
Cody Schmidt admitted the charge was high but did not see a way to alter the
fine without having hundreds of others demanding a price change.
"We have several people that are habitual violators that choose to let
the city clean it up at a fraction of the cost," said Schmidt. "That's
why we raised fees. I do respect what you're saying. $1,500 is a lot of
money. Unfortunately, we don't have the manpower but that's something we
can definitely look into."
Ball admitted fault in not following up with the tenant to make sure the hot
tub was removed after receiving the ordinance violation in the mail. Once the
abatement was approved in early December, the copy of the resolution was placed
on house telling the resident they have 5-7 days to take care of the problem.
Renting the house on Lakin, Ball was unaware of the final resolution.