This St. Cloud Times article is proof that overly meddlesome government isn’t just found within the confines of the federal government. This time, it’s found in Sauk Rapids. Last night, the Sauk Rapids voted unanimously to fine people who violate Sauk Rapids’ so-called nuisance ordinance. According to the article, the “fine for a first violation will be $100, the fine for a second notice of the violation will be $300 and the fine for the third notice will be $600. The fine for repeat offenders within a two-year period will also be $600.”
By now, you’re likely wondering what constitutes a nuisance ordinance violation. According to the Times’ article, homeowners can be fined for letting garbage accumulate. Homeowners can’t “allow peeling or blistering paint on more than 15 percent of a home,” either. The only part of the ordinance that’s justifiable is “keeping windows in working condition and walkways in good condition.” I’d consider the keeping of windows in working condition and maintaining sidewalks public safety issues.
Here’s where Sauk Rapids’ ordinance goes way too far:
The ordinance also prohibits vehicles including boats, four-wheelers, trailers or other defined vehicles from being parked in a residential yard unless parked in the driveway, licensed and road-worthy. They can be parked in a rear or side yard if they are licensed and operable.
If a homeowner wants to park their boat or RV in their back yard, the city should keep its nose out of that homeowner’s business. There’s a reason why it’s called private property. These busybodies seem to think that it’s called public-private property. They’re mistaken on that.
Governments at all levels think that they can dictate what people can do with the people’s private property. Whether it’s the EPA telling citizens that they can’t build their dream home on private property because there’s a single low spot that the federal government considers a wetland or whether it’s the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water or Department of Natural Resources telling farmers what they can and can’t do in raising crops or whether it’s a city council telling private property owners what things are permissible on the property owner’s property, government apparently thinks that they’re co-owners of the property.
If they want to be co-owners, then let them make half of the mortgage payment and pay half of the property taxes. If they won’t do that, then they should butt out and devote their time to running the city efficiently while keeping their collective noses out of their citizens’ private property.
Next thing they will be taking away guns and fireworks and limiting where you can smoke.
It’s one thing to pass ordinances that apply to public safety. It’s another to pass ordinances that tell people what they can’t do on their property that doesn’t affect other people.
The phrase that pays is “Housing Stock” - a term you’ll see in many local government ordinances and publications. What it clearly implies is that all the homes belong to them, not you. The justification is to maintain property values, which is to say, keep taxes flowing to City Hall.
But I’d argue that the cure could be worse than the disease. I scratched off two Twin Cities suburbs when we last bought a house based on harassment we and relatives saw even 25 years ago.
I’d also ask: wouldn’t fixing the public schools go much further to improve property values? No, that’s off the table.
Rex - let me guess… St. Louis Park and New Hope. They are still as bad as ever - as close to Minneapolis-style bureaucracy as you can get.