Rental Registration Committee discusses alternative program

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By Charlotte Caldwell

SIDNEY – Sidney City Manager Andrew Bowsher proposed an alternative rental registration program to the Rental Registration Ad Hoc Committee at a meeting on Feb. 7.

First, Bowsher passed out to the committee an inspection checklist used by the city of Syracuse, New York, that is more visual than Sidney’s rough draft checklist but contains mostly the same points.

“They’re not talking about the standard of living from the tenant’s standpoint. We all know that there are a variety of different tenants from all walks of life, and our goal is not necessarily to regulate how they live. What we are trying to regulate is the safety and the environment in which they live,” Bowsher said regarding the points on the checklist.

Then he discussed the revised program, which would be named the “Rental Revitalization Program.” In the new proposal, the registration fee would be lowered to $100 per unit for individuals who only want to register properties without inspections, and the fees would be due every three years. The individuals who allow the city to inspect properties will not pay a fee. Inspections for single-family units – or properties with up to three units – would be inspected every three years, and multi-family units would be inspected every five years. Inspection times could also be more lenient if landlords communicate with the Community Development office and explain their situation.

Additionally, Bowsher said, “What we’re going to do is we’re going to set a dollar amount off to the side, most likely for the first year we’ll probably set aside about $50,000, and what it’ll be is it will be a tax credit up to $5,000 per unit. What we would do is it would be 50 cents on the dollar match based on the appraised auditor value of said property. Once it gets over that $10,000 threshold, it will move into what we’re going to call a tax abatement program. What we’ll do is we’ll give you a 15-year, 100% tax abatement anytime you spend over $10,000 a year on a unit.” He said there will be a $50 application fee to participate in this program, and the only way a tax credit would be given is by going through the inspection process and getting the issues documented by an inspector.

The committee’s landlords liked the pitch and the collaboration it will create between landlords and the city and thanked Bowsher for the time spent on it. However, the committee did not address the concerns of a newly formed Association of Tenants, some of whom attended the meeting.

In a letter addressed to Sidney Mayor Mardie Milligan and sent to Milligan, Bowsher and committee member Tim Gleason, the tenants named reasons why they are against the rental registration program in general with a summary paragraph stating that the city is trying to encourage growth, but this legislation inhibits it. The points of concern included:

• The costs to administer the program are too high and the burden will be placed on the tenants;

• The legislation appears to be discriminatory against poor, disabled and older individuals because of their inability to maintain property;

• The legislation does not address the basic needs of the tenants or landlords;

• The legislation does not address the resolution of an immediate repair if the landlord can’t be contacted;

• The legislation does not address the issues of commercial rental properties;

• Good tenants and landlords will move elsewhere, and the city might not have the workforce to sustain businesses.

Additionally, the tenants proposed “to form two associations one of tenants and one of landlords, who will create a database of properties available for tenants to rent with terms and a physical rating by past tenants,” and “a database of tenants with ratings of past histories provided by landlords.” They think that “in the long run the market will bear out the bad apples in the present marketplace. The bad tenants will leave and the bad landlords will go broke.”

The next Rental Registration Ad Hoc Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 4 p.m. in City Hall’s council chambers and will include drafted legislation for review because of the new pitch.

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