Late Penalty on Brush Clearance Fee Waived

Homeowners who are late in paying a controversial $13 brush inspection fee for 1999 will face no penalty under an ordinance approved Wednesday by the City Council.

The inspection plan that the council passed in January specified that homeowners who failed to pay the new fee on time would face a 200% penalty. But while inspections went forward, a protest over the new fee caused repeated delays.

The council action Wednesday came as the content of a long-promised rewritten notice of the new fee remained under review by the mayor’s office and other city agencies, officials said.