A 'fee' on renters

The Colorado Springs code enforcement unit has proposed penalizing owners of rental properties with a new "fee" that could be passed along to renters.

The fee, of course, would be nothing other than a special new tax on one select group of property owners and residents. A fee, by its nature, is the voluntary cost of enjoying a privilege or service. Yet one who owns an apartment building would have no option but to pay the fee in order to continue owning the property. And no, property ownership isn't a privilege. It is an absolute right as defined by the Constitution.

The code enforcement unit is likely to be eliminated because of anticipated 2010 budget cuts. The proposed $1 per rental unit fee would generate about $780,000 and preserve the agency.

But it's not really a proposal for a measley $1 fee. The Gazette has learned it's a proposed $10-per-unit fee, which can be reduced to $1-per-unit for any property owner willing to undergo "landlord education class."

Imagine government employees trying to teach private landlords how to manage property. If the lowly state of most public housing projects is any indication, government landlords could use an education from the private sector.

So when you hear about the mere $1 fee, realize it is a much higher fee - except for those who submit to political re-education. It is a fee that applies only to those who own rental units, despite the fact 35 percent of the code enforcement agency's cases involve non-rental properties.

All this so we can spend nearly a million dollars a year to professionally police weeds and unwanted sofas abandoned by renters and owners alike.

Colorado Springs doesn't need a city agency to enforce minor violations of the code. It needs peer pressure among property owners in order to force widespread, voluntary compliance with standards of common decency.