Unkempt lawns rack up $50,000 noi I ens in West Memphis

Unkempt lawns rack up $50,000 noi I ens in West Memphis

City cracking down on overgrown properties

By John Rech

news@theeveningtimes.com Time to clean up the bills for cleaning up the overgrown lots in West Memphis. City Council slapped liens on $50,000 worth of mowing, litter and debris removal in lots neglected by property owners. Some city council members have had enough of the ever growing burden of policing unkempt lots and called for exploring a land bank to, in part, take over the lot maintenance.

In all, the city assumed care for 754 overgrown lots. So many property owners see the city fees cheaper than hiring a grass cutter and take advantage of the city. Grass cutting ordinances require the weeds to be kept down.

Councilman James Pulliaum had seen enough and pointed to Mayor Marco McClendon’s call for a land bank. McClendon touched on the change during his inaugural address. City planning and Development Director Paul Luker wanted this year’s list approved so the county tax collector could post the liens. Often the threat of lien brings in some property owners to pay up.

“If we send it to the county we can get all of on the books and publish the list,” said Luker. “That helps us collect it, if we get it to them in January. Every year the list gets longer and it takes more time to get it in there.”

“The list is getting thicker by the year,” said Pulliaum.

“One of the things is the land commission is willing to work with us, I talked to them in years past about the land bank to work on the property we will probably never collect on.”

A land bank focuses on rejuvenating vacant, abandoned or tax delinquent properties that the private market has rejected. Land banks could directly offset the city expense of mowing. Land banks have been set up in Jonesboro, Little Rock and Arkansas City to reduce blight. City Council would have to approve an ordinance to create a land bank in the city.

Tall grass will earn you a tall tax lien to pay. The City of West Memphis has completed another round of placing liens on unkempt properties arround the community in efforts to encourage owners to maintain their properties as spring gets closer.

File photo