Code Violation Fines Mount on Marco Island

Unpaid code enforcement fines mount on Marco Island. Documents reveal a significant gap in city and building code violations issued versus collected each year. 

According to a document shared by City of Marco Island Finance Director Guillermo Polanco, in the past year, there were approximately $1.6 million in fines invoiced and approximately $12,000 collected, thus far. 

City staff explained that the document didn’t reveal the full picture. However, when asking for the total amount of fines issued versus fines collected in fiscal year 2024, the City did not have the data available or did not provide it. The first request by this reporter for a year of code enforcement fines issued versus collected was in August 2024. 

“Code enforcement for us is more about trying to gain compliance than fines,” City Manager Mike McNees has maintained in interviews. “The main goal of code is to gain compliance. A lot of it is through education. Not everybody knows the codes if they’re tourists or if they’re visiting,” he said. 

On Friday, Polanco provided part of the FY 2024 information. 

“For FY24 we collected $180,132 in code fees. Please note that the amount collected could be for fines issued in a prior year. With regards to the number of fines issued for FY24 I will let (Police) Chief (Tracy) Frazzano answer,” wrote Polanco. 

However, Frazzano did not have the total fines issued, she said. Instead, the issuing of fines was handled by the finance department, she said. 

The $12,000 collected as viewed on the document was not accurate, she said, and when adding fines that were mitigated, it was closer to $200,000 paid. That would still leave about $1.4 million in fines that either will continue to be lowered through mitigation or lead to property liens. 

The supplied financial documents reveal several repeat commercial offenders violating building codes and unpaid fines, many of which may not be collected or lead to a property lien. 

There are hundreds of properties with code enforcement liens on them, Polanco recently informed Council. However, the number and value of those were not available as of Friday. 

When asked in 2024 about the code fines issued versus collected, the finance department did not respond with the data. But McNees said it wasn’t financially significant. 

“It’s not a big enough number to really move the needle,” McNees had said. 

Not including liens on properties or fines collected through the mitigation process, there appears to be at least $1 million in uncollected code fines, not including notices of violations and warnings that go without fines. 

“We’re interested in compliance more than punishment. If a fine is appropriate, we’ll certainly collect them,” McNees said. 

“Fines are not a material part of our budget. They’re a tool for compliance, not a revenue device,” he said.

"I see it as a good thing for sure. We don’t want to find an excuse to punish people and fine them,” McNees continued.

Education and tools of compliance create a more positive culture for city residents and for returning visitors in the tourist destination, he said. 

With multiple code enforcement officers, vehicles, a magistrate, and city attorney fees, code enforcement has expenses that far exceed the fines collected. The city’s total cost for code enforcement wasn’t immediately available. 

City Attorney Alan Gabriel charged $5,775 in legal fees for May, he reported. 

Meanwhile, many fines are not pursued, seemingly due to a lack of process in billing.

“On code violations, 173 cases were under $500,” Frazzano noted of the document produced by the finance department upon this reporter’s request this June. 

“We don’t go through a certification process on that,” she said. 

That means, as far as she knows, the invoices are sent by the finance department, but if they are not paid, there is not a mechanism for collections. 

Further hindering some collections is that for a contractor’s violation, a lien is not put on the property. So those fines may lead to the building department withdrawing permits, but it does not lead to payment into the code enforcement system. 

In the past year, 41 liens were placed on properties, Frazzano said. 

After mitigation, the total amount fined might be closer to $938,000 than $1.6 million, she said. 

And, many cases from the May 2024 to June 1, 2025 data set will go through mitigation this summer, Frazzano added. 

“It does still look high, but that’s not $1.6 million,” she said. 

“It’s not a moneymaker by any sort of means,” Frazzano said. “It will never pay for itself,” she said of code enforcement.

The lack of income from code enforcement is not from a lack of officers doing their jobs, but more so about the process, she said.

“It’s not a fast process,” Frazzano said. “I have a really good code team,” she added. 

Factors that may lead toward code compliance operating without generating income include issuing warnings, education, a general direction toward compliance over fines, daily fines that accrue quickly and are mitigated, as well as other factors. 

Beach patrols reveal most people are in compliance with sea turtle season lighting requirements, Frazzano said. Despite recent concerns raised at Council, there are not that many noise violations reported, she added. There were four valid noise complaints in May, Frazzano reported. 

Most violations begin with a warning and most code violations come from officers patrolling, not from neighborhood complaints, which must not be anonymous, Frazzano said.  

An example of how mitigation can greatly reduce the total amount invoiced versus the amount paid is when a lawn is not being mowed because a person went into memory care without a property manager, she said. Daily fines can lead to nearly $1 million quite quickly with the city mowing the lawn while the daily fines keep accrue. Those fines are likely mitigated, or lowered, through negotiations with the magistrate and/or with Gabriel over an extensive amount of time.

People expect a faster process than is possible with code enforcement, McNees said. 

“And people are frustrated because the timelines move very slowly, all as prescribed by the law in the name of protecting private property rights,” wrote McNees in an email Friday. 

City Council Chairman Erik Brechnitz took up some aspects of the issue during the May Council meeting, particularly in a conversation about noise violations. 

"What I’ve been saying for years is the way to change behavior is to go after them in small claims court,” Brechnitz said. 

"The legal fees are greater than fines. No one gets off with a lien. We chase them down and get fines paid. Even if it costs a little in the process. We’re not interested in a revenue item, we’re interested in a behavior that gets changed,” Brechnitz said.