Ellwood rental laws
unaffected by
New Castle ruling
unaffected by
New Castle ruling
NEW CASTLE - A lawsuit contesting New Castle's rental property registry ordinance is unlikely to affect a similar regulation in Ellwood City, borough manager Dom Viccari said.
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Pittsburgh attorney Bradley Dornish, who represents the association, was unavailable for comment Friday.
Court documents filed Thursday by the association claim that a provision in the New Castle ordinance, passed in 1998, is too broad and vague. The provision requires a permit, with a fee, even for properties that are not occupied.
The association also contests the fee charged by the city - which varies depending on the number of units and type of rental property - amounts to an illegal tax because only the state government can levy taxes or delegate that authority to local governments.
According to the lawsuit, the state constitution allows local and county governments to collect fees equal to the costs of carrying out the service in question. Any amount in excess of that is an illegal tax, unless the state government gives its approval.
After reading the court filing Friday, Viccari said he thinks the fee was the central issue in the association's lawsuit. Ellwood City's rental registry ordinance, which was established in 1997, has no fee-collecting provision.
Ellwood City's registry is intended solely to establish a database of rental property owners, which enables borough officials to collect outstanding electric and sewer bills and to charge absentee landlords for cleanup or destruction of dilapidated properties, Viccari said.
According to a news release issued Friday by the apartment association, Dornish, of the law firm of Dornish & Scolieri, plans lawsuits against Pittsburgh, and Uniontown and Connellsville in Fayette County on similar grounds.
The firm has planned no action against Ellwood City.
Eric Poole can be reached online at epoole@ellwoodcityledger.com.
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