EDITORIAL: Give it up already

Thursday, April 10, 2008

St. Bernard Parish officials continue to waste taxpayers' money defending an ill-conceived home-rental ordinance -- even as the parish's financial exposure grows larger.

That's neither good public policy nor sound fiscal administration.

The cash-starved parish already had to spend $32,500 to settle an anti-discrimination suit against an earlier version of the ordinance, conceived by then-Councilman Craig Taffaro, who last year was elected parish president.
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The original law required council approval for homeowners to rent to anyone who was not a blood relative. The parish dropped that provision after the suit was filed in 2006. But St. Bernard likely spent thousands of dollars in legal fees before settling.

Now the parish is facing a new lawsuit challenging the remaining parts of the rental ordinance. The current law still requires council permits to rent out houses that weren't rentals before the storm. In the new suit, owners of 80 properties claim that violates their constitutional and property rights, and U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance has ordered the parish to temporarily stop enforcing the law.

The lawsuit that the parish settled involved housing advocates and only one property owner, who sought mostly to end the law's discriminatory effects. By contrast, the new suit seeks compensation for what the owners allege is a drop in value for dozens of properties. Thus, the potential exposure for parish taxpayers is greater this time if St. Bernard loses the suit or has to settle.

The prudent step is for President Taffaro and the Parish Council to rescind this controversial law -- a suggestion they have stubbornly resisted.

Officials defend the law as a way to prevent a flood of cheap and unattended rentals. But other parishes accomplish that goal with maintenance and zoning regulations that don't have the same risk of litigation.

St. Bernard's law professes that the measure "shall preserve the constitutional rights of all persons for home ownership." A better way to guarantee that -- and stop wasting public dollars -- would be to get rid of the ordinance.