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Mount Pocono

Council puts off issue of illegals
Ordinance tabled, other avenues to be explored

GEMA MARÍA DUARTE
Pocono Record Writer
September 20, 2006


MOUNT POCONO — The borough is backing away from the business of regulating immigration.

Borough Council on Monday tabled a proposed illegal immigration ordinance similar to one passed recently in Hazleton. Instead, the borough will revisit an existing ordinance that requires landlords to register tenants with the borough.

Council members also endorsed a petition that will go to the federal government regarding immigration control in the United States.

Councilman Dan McDavitt, who moved the immigration ordinance in July, asked for his original motion to be tabled after Council President John P. Finnerty recommended that the Tenant Registration Ordinance of 1997 be revisited during a work session.

The ordinance requires owners of rental housing units to register renters, but the borough has had difficulties enforcing it, Finnerty said.

The Pocono Mountain School District has started taking its share of revenue from a local earned income tax, which is its legal right. That amount, however, is coming from money that used to go to the borough. So making sure there's an accurate head count of renters and making sure they are paying the tax is more important now than ever.

"I think if we didn't have to have this before, I think now we have to have it," Finnerty said Monday to the board of the tenant registration ordinance.

The Latino Task Force of Monroe County, a group opposed to a borough immigration ordinance, was content with the outcome of the issue, for now.

"We congratulate the council members for taking a step toward the right direction. We are confidant that their intention is to review and adopt other ordinances that address over crowded housing and possible non payment of taxes in the borough. They would be doing a great disservice to this community if it was only a delay in tactic to adopt a Hazleton-style ordinance once the city of Hazleton resolves its legal problems," said Dagmaris Cabezas, founder of the newly formed task force, on Tuesday. "The statement that they drafted and being sent to federal officials on illegal immigration is the right way to go. Immigration is a federal, not a local problem."

McDavitt said Tuesday that he has no intention of reintroducing the ordinance at a later time.

"My intention is to concentrate on ordinance No. 5 of 1997 registration of tenats," he said.

Although McDavitt motioned to table the ordinance it can resurface again if another council person reintroduces it.

"That's possible," McDavitt said. "I suspect that's not going to happen if we go throught the channels to solve the issues we have."

Finnerty said Tuesday that he does not intend to reinstate such an ordinance either.

Councilman Francis O'Boyle said Tuesday that didn't want to commit to whether he would reintroduce the ordinance or not.

The work session is scheduled for Sept. 27 at 7 p.m., where borough officials will review similar ordinances used in other municipalities such as Stroudsburg, which is successful in enforcing ordinances registering tenants.

Stroudsburg has had a rental housing and tenant report ordinance since September 2001. It is an aid in collecting the 1 percent earned income tax that is split in half between the Stroudsburg School District and the borough, according to Jeffrey B. Wilkins, codes enforcement officer for Stroudsburg. "For that reason the ordinance has been effective," he said on Tuesday.

Every January the borough sends a reminder to landlords and a tenant registration form. If the property owner does not return the form, the borough sends a certified enforcement notice.

If the landlord still doesn't submit the form, the borough issues a citation that can cost the landlord $300 in fines.

The form requires the address of the rental property, the names of the adult tenants, the number of minors, the phone number, the place of employment for each adult, the names of previous tenants and the move-in date for current tenants.

The borough identifies rental properties in the borough a number of ways, Wilkins said, including the sewage billing, Wilkins said. The codes enforcement department sends out the annual reminders.

The Hazleton ordinance, which is being challenged by Latino activist groups, punishes businesses for hiring workers not legal in the country and landlords for renting to them.