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Lewisburg council approves first reading to repeal residential landlord registration after staff says program cost outweighed fee
Summary
On first reading the council moved to delete the residential landlord registration (ordinance 26-07), citing staff time and costs; council and a member of the public discussed roughly $7,000 spent on the program and about $1,600 collected in fees.
The Lewisburg City Council on June 9 held first reading of ordinance 26-07, which would remove the city's residential landlord registration requirement from the municipal code.
Rodney Conklin, a Ward One resident, told the council the registration effort consumed staff time and public funds: "the city's invested over $7,000 taxpayer money staff time to get the list going," he said, adding that only a small fraction of landlords ever required identification for code enforcement.
Council members and staff described the registration and associated $10 fee as administratively burdensome. A staff speaker said the city had spent about $7,000 building the list and had collected roughly $1,600 in fees; council members said continuing the program could cost more to administer than the fees it generated.
Councilman Robertson moved and Councilwoman Michael seconded the first reading to delete Title 20, Chapter 7 (residential landlord registration). The motion carried on roll call.
Council members discussed alternatives, including seeking better data from the county tax office or finding low-effort data-collection methods, and said they want enforcement officers focused on code issues rather than administrative list-building. The ordinance will return for a subsequent reading before final adoption.
