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Constitutional Law

Suit claims town generates cash with housing code; front-yard barbecues banned, screens required

The town of Pagedale, Missouri, is bolstering its budget by ticketing homeowners for offenses such as having front-yard barbecue grills and too-tall hedges, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

The suit, which seeks class action status, claims violations of the Constitution’s due process and excessive fines clauses, the New York Times reports. The Institute for Justice filed the federal suit on Wednesday on behalf of three name plaintiffs. A press release is here, and the suit is here (PDF).

Pagedale is located a few miles south of Ferguson. In 2013, about 17 percent of its revenue came from fines and fees. According to the suit, the town “has turned the city’s code enforcement and municipal court into revenue-generating machines.” Its code bans mismatched curtains; barbecues, wading pools and basketball hoops in front yards; hedges above three-feet high; dead and overgrown vegetation; and windows and outside doors without screens, according to a list compiled by the Institute for Justice.

One of the plaintiffs, Valarie Whitner, was ordered to replace her siding; repaint her gutters and foundation; and put up screens and blinds on every window. Other demands concerned her roof, fence and yard. She took out a high-interest payday loan to pay for repairs as well as fines and court costs that amounted to at least $2,400. “Pagedale just kept coming back to us, bothering us,” she said of the “horrible” experience.

William Maurer, managing attorney of the Institute for Justice, spoke with the New York Times about the suit. “We hope that if the court agrees with us, the residents of Pagedale will no longer be treated as walking cash machines by their city government and that the city will limit its regulatory authority to things that actually affect health or safety,” he said.

Pagedale city attorney Sam Alton told the Times the portion of the city budget collected from fines and fees is now lower than the 17 percent figure for 2013. He said the city collects a small portion of its revenue from fines for housing violations. “It’s got nothing to do with driving up revenue,” he said. “And it’s got everything to do with making the properties code compliant and safe.”