By Claire Taylorctaylor@theadvertiser.com

Lafayette residents who leave their garbage or recycling carts on the curb more than 24 hours after collection will face a larger cumulative fine, up to $150 a year.

The City-Parish Council on Tuesday tweaked an ordinance dealing with garbage collection, increasing the maximum accumulative fine from $100 to $150 per property per calendar year.

The council also eased a penalty that required a lien on the property if someone has not complied with the ordinance after seven incidences. Currently, the ordinance requires public works to file the lien. The council amended the ordinance to give public works the option, but not to require the lien.

Mark Pope, LCG environmental quality manager, said the intent is to change behavior, not necessarily to punish people. A first offense gets a warning letter. If the same resident violates the ordinance again within two weeks, they’re fined, he said.

In 2013, 57 warning letters were sent to residents who didn’t pull their garbage cans at least three feet from the curb within 24 hours of pickup, Pope said. Eleven were assessed fines, three paid the fines and eight did not, he said.

In 2014, 10 warning letters have been sent and no fines assessed, Pope said.

No liens have been filed against anyone to date, he said.

In other action Tuesday, the council heard from residents concerned about dangerous, illegal activity in their neighborhoods, including drive-by shootings, burglaries and speeding.

Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux said he asked the residents to tell the council face-to-face what is happening in their neighborhoods. When 2014-15 budget discussions begin in July, Boudreaux said he will request a “very aggressive crime-suppression public initiative” in his district.

Twelfth Street resident Deneen Gardner said she’s seen more crime than usual in the last three weeks, including people shooting at houses.

“You don’t know if you’re going to sit on your porch and get shot,” she said. “I want to be able to sit in my yard like someone on Ambassador Caffery or in River Ranch.”

Robert Duhon, who lives around Moss Street, said kids are shooting guns, smoking drugs on the street and breaking into houses. Last week, three people moved out of his neighborhood because they’re afraid, he said.

Police Chief Jim Craft said this type of activity occurs “in a lot of areas. We’re stretched to the limit.”

Craft said police officers patrol high-crime areas, but the offenders aren’t going to shoot or deal drugs while the police are around and the city can’t afford to put a police officer on every corner.

“This is about resources,” Boudreaux said.

Also on Tuesday, the council voted to expand the board of the Lafayette Public Trust Financing Authority from five to seven. The two additional trustees must be minorities, the council decided.