Proposed changes upset some landlords in city

The measure would be a costly invasion of privacy, an opponent says.
WARREN -- Landlords are upset with a proposed ordinance that would raise the annual permit fee they pay per apartment from $18 to $96 and provide for regular health inspections of the apartments.
The ordinance, scheduled to be introduced at tonight's city council meeting, is sponsored by four council members, Robert Holmes III, D-4th; James "Doc" Pugh, D-6th; Andrew Barkley, D-3rd; and Vincent Flask, D-5th.
"It represents an unfair cost burden to the landlord," said Robert Kruppa, president of the Trumbull County Real Estate Investors' Association. "It invades the privacy of our residents," he added. "This doesn't fix the problem and doesn't solve the problem," of urban blight, he said.
Voicing opposition
The association has sent leaflets to its members and to tenants urging them to call Mayor Michael O'Brien and council members to voice their opposition to the ordinance. The controversy over the ordinance brought more than 20 landlords to council's finance committee meeting Tuesday evening.
The ordinance, which pertains to dwellings that are not owner-occupied, reduces the fee to $60 per apartment for complexes of 50 or more apartments; $50 each for complexes of more than 100; and $40 each for complexes larger than 300 apartments.
The fee increase is needed to pay for the hiring of additional inspectors the health department would need to inspect apartments twice a year, Holmes said, noting that there are now only two inspectors for an estimated 8,000 apartments in the city.
The apartments are already subject to inspection. But Holmes said, "We want to inspect them twice a year, instead of just being subject to inspection."
Fearful tenants
Citing tenants being evicted after they complained of a sewer backing up and windows being painted shut, Holmes said the regular inspections are needed because tenants are sometimes "afraid to complain" about problems affecting their apartments.
"Ninety percent of my calls have to do with rental properties, and I can give you example after example of problems," Holmes said.