The Lien Amnesty Program adopted in September, 2014 granted amnesty to liens/fines adjudicated prior to March 27, 2015 and provided for all active code enforcement cases from that day forward to request lien/fine reductions from the Hearing Master once the properties came into full compliance.

Ordinance No. 14-172 provided an application deadline of March 27, 2015, and a compliance period, that was later extended to December 31, 2016 by uncodified Ordinance No. 15-188. The Lien Amnesty program was very successful. The program resulted in the lien reduction of 175 code enforcement cases and full code compliance of those properties and all properties owned by the same individual within Town boundaries. Under the current Lien Amnesty Ordinance, any liens that were eligible for amnesty that failed to apply would forego the opportunity for any further consideration of reduction; there are approximately 170 of these cases. Each month the Town receives several requests from the property owners of these cases that wish to resolve their outstanding liens.

In lieu of re-opening the Lien Amnesty program, the Town Council directed staff to draft an Ordinance allowing lien holders who failed to take advantage of the Lien Amnesty Program to go to the Hearing Officer for reevaluation where extra ordinary circumstances did occur but in no event would the maximum reduction exceed 70% of the current lien amount. Adoption of the proposed amendment affords all code cases, both those in existence before and after

Ordinance No. 15-183, with an opportunity for consideration of reduction by the Hearing Officer by no more that 70%. Applicants under the Amnesty Program benefited from reductions up to 85%. This amendment would essentially double the payment (15% to 30%) that new amnesty petitioners could enjoy via the Hearing Master process.