$13 Brush Fee Should Be Rescinded, Chick Says

The lawmaker who sponsored the city’s controversial $13 brush-clearance fee has had a change of heart, saying it should be rescinded and some $900,000 already collected should be refunded.

Councilwoman Laura Chick said she will introduce a measure today to kill the fee for this year.

“It started out as a mess and it still is a mess and I want to fix it,” Chick said, adding that the city has to win the public’s trust that the fee is important for public safety.

Councilman Hal Bernson said he would “undoubtedly” support Chick’s motion.

“Probably under the circumstances, it’s best to start over,” Bernson said. “They’ve screwed it up so bad.”

Notices of the $13 fee to pay for Fire Department inspections were originally mailed three months ago to 180,000 property owners in the Mountain Fire District and buffer zones.

The fee was meant to cover the city’s cost of making sure hillside property owners cleared brush from within 200 feet of buildings, as required by city law.

The council suspended the fee after residents complained the notices were confusing and heavy-handed.

Last month, the council voted to reinstate the fee once a new notice could be drafted that would better explain that the fee need not be paid if a property owner certifies in writing that his or her land is in compliance with brush-clearance rules.

Those notices were supposed to go out June 1, but Mayor Richard Riordan ordered them held for further review.

In the meantime, the Fire Department has completed inspection of all 180,000 properties, even though officials said they needed the fee to pay for the stepped-up inspection program.

“Given the timing of these notices and the fact that inspections have already occurred, coupled with an inadequate public education program and the surrounding confusion . . . the $13 inspection fee is no longer justified,” said the motion drafted by Chick.

The Fire Department is reviewing the boundaries of the buffer zones and may exclude some properties from the inspection program, Chick said.

Jessica Copen, a spokeswoman for Riordan, said the mayor’s office was already considering whether to suspend the fees for this year.

“It’s just one of many options,” Copen said.

The city would have to come up with money elsewhere to cover the inspection expenses.

Chick’s proposal to kill the fee drew strong support Thursday from Gordon Murley, president of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns., a coalition of dozens of homeowner groups, which had objected to the fee.

“I think they are finally getting the message that you don’t tax people for a service that has been provided for years,” Murley said. “We’re happy. But we will still fight it in ensuing years if they impose it again.”