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Public Hearing
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City of San Bernardino
Request for Council Action
Date: February 21, 2017
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
From Mark Scott, City Manager
By: Georgeann "Gigi" Hanna, City Clerk :•ri
Telicia Lopez, Business Registration Manager
Subject: Business Registration Liens
Recommendation
Conduct a public hearing; direct the City Clerk to administratively remove any properties
from the Business Registration Liens List (Exhibit A) which have been paid prior to the
hearing, and adopt a Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of San
Bernardino, California imposing liens for uncollected business registration.
Background
The San Bernardino Municipal Code Section 5.04.525F requires any company or
individual renting or leasing residential or commercial property in the City to obtain a
business registration certificate and pay a fee. For those who fail to comply with the
rental property requirement additional action is taken. In accordance with San
Bernardino Municipal Code Section 5.04.076 whenever appropriate fees and penalties
cannot be collected after proper notification to the owner, the total uncollected fees and
penalties shall become an assessment.
Unregistered properties are identified through multiple sources, including Home Owners
Exemption list from the county, newly opened water department accounts, closed rental
property business registration accounts, code enforcement, and citizen notification. New
accounts are contacted using the mailing address they have provided to the county or
the address they provided to our water department. The properties being listed include
newly identified rental properties and delinquent accounts that have not responded to
collection efforts.
Collection efforts used by the City involve multiple contacts attempting to gain
compliance with the city code. The first letter informs the homeowner that rental
properties are considered a business and a registration certificate is required. This
letter also informs the owner that if the property is not a rental to complete the
application (which is attached to the letter) and indicate the status of the property. The
second letter is a notice to comply or notify our office if the property is a rental. If there
is no response from the second letter, a certified letter is sent. If there is no response to
that letter, a lien hearing notice is mailed with a Business Registration application to
allow the owner to comply or close the account.
When letters are returned because the owner is unknown, the City begins the contact
process again with the new address provided by the Post Office. If no resolution
attempts are made to pay or close the account, the city proceeds with the lien process.
(If there is no forwarding address provided by the Post Office, the process ends).
The attached list represents those accounts that were not compliant as of 5 p.m.
February 16, 2017. Those accounts that were addressed prior to this evening's meeting
and after February 16, 2017 will be removed from the list that is forwarded to the
County, and the properties will not be liened.
Attachments
Attachment 1: Resolution; Exhibit A- Business Registration Liens List