City of Pueblo planning new approach to collect money owed

Keeping up with overgrown weeds and illegal dumping has left the city with nearly $600,000 in unpaid liens dating back to 1980.

“It’s very frustrating that we have that kind of outstanding debt,” said Pueblo City Council President Steve Nawrocki.

City Council recently learned about the $595,761 debt owed from people who refuse to pay their code enforcement bills. The majority of the debt — $536,409 — stems from 2000 to now.

In most instances, City Manager Sam Azad said the liens were placed on properties when city workers came out to clean up illegally dumped trash or trim high weeds.

But the city doesn’t plan to foot the bill for much longer.

“I think that we mean business and that we are going to go after you,” Nawrocki said.

Instead of placing liens against property, the city is exploring the possibility of adding the expense to the home owner’s property tax.

For years, Lori Winner has been pushing City Council to be more aggressive about enforcing city codes. She hopes council’s proposal pans out.

“The hope is that it brings up our property values. It’ll bring more educated, interesting people to our community which will create more job opportunities,” Winner said.

She said council’s laid-back approach in the past has hurt the city’s image.

“It’s created a culture in the city that certain things are OK to do. Like, it’s OK to have junk cars in your yard or it’s OK to have weeds as high as the house,” Winner said.

Azad said city employees are looking into how much money they’ll be able to recover from previous liens since it spans several decades.