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Highlands County adopts tougher penalties, code‑enforcement route for untarped loads
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners adopted Ordinance 25‑26‑01 to replace a $50 invoice for untarped loads with a Class 1 code‑enforcement citation system that includes progressive fines and magistrate collection to improve roadside litter enforcement.
The Highlands County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 7 adopted Ordinance 25‑26‑01, amending Chapter 8.5 (solid waste) to strengthen penalties and enforcement for untarped loads dumped at the county landfill.
Under the ordinance staff presented, the current $50 flat invoice for untarped loads will be removed and enforcement will move into the county’s code‑enforcement citation process as a Class 1 violation. The ordinance sets progressive penalties after a written warning: $100 for the first citation, $200 for a second, $400 for a third and $700 for a fourth or subsequent citation. The landfill’s designated official will be authorized to issue citations; unpaid citations may be heard by a magistrate and, when ordered, recorded as liens against property.
County staff said the change is intended to provide a stronger enforcement tool than the invoice system, which officials called ineffective, and to create leverage for collection when fines go unpaid. In response to commissioners’ questions, staff said the measure will not prohibit emergency or occasional residential self‑hauling (for example, storm debris or a broken refrigerator) but is aimed at repeat commercial and noncompliant loads. Staff also said the county is working to add cameras at the landfill entrance to better document untarped loads and that the initial warning will be documented in writing to allow tracking before a citation is issued.
Commissioners pressed staff on practical enforcement questions: how verbal or written warnings will be recorded, whether payment will be collected at the scale house, and how the county will avoid incentivizing illegal dumping if drivers lack cash at the gate. Staff said citations will typically allow 30 days to pay before magistrate action and that vehicles will not be turned away at the gate; code enforcement and the magistrate process provide additional remedies, including recorded judgments for persistent nonpayment.
The board voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance. The change will take effect according to the ordinance’s effective‑date language and follow the county’s standard code‑enforcement process.
