Hernando County commissioners agreed last fall that the county needed to improve its neighborhoods by knocking down blighted structures. They just couldn’t agree on how to pay for it.
Commissioners can avoid a repeat of that debate when they consider a proposed foreclosure registry ordinance later this month. Under the plan, a portion of the fees lenders pay to register foreclosed properties could be used to finance the abatement effort. It’s a worthwhile proposal modeled after similar ordinances elsewhere in Florida. Commissioners should support it.
There have been more than 13,000 reasons to embrace it over the past six years. That’s how many foreclosure lawsuits have been filed in circuit court in Hernando County since 2008, and each came with the potential for a vacant structure to turn into a community eyesore. The registry in Pasco County, which began in 2011, currently contains 13,526 properties.