Level Playing Field

Most businesses follow the rules. They comply with a host of laws that were enacted to protect consumers, the environment, neighborhoods and our tax base. In some cases competitors spring up who do not play by the rules, thus creating an unfair advantage over the businesses which are operating legitimately in our County.

For example, many homeowners rely upon contractors of all types – home improvement, landscaping, electricians, etc. Legitimate companies incur expenses complying with all applicable laws and regulations, such as commercial rents, licenses and proper disposal of commercial waste products. These expenses are built into the costs that legitimate companies charge. When a business emerges, who fails to follow the applicable laws and regulations, a host of problems for legitimate businesses and the community result.

These problems can include substandard work, zoning violations in the event that businesses operate out of residential neighborhoods, illegal waste disposal with associated environmental impacts, and other problems.

Consequently businesses who are playing by all of the rules suffer due to unfair competition.

To level the playing field, on the County Council, Steve will:

Encourage the Executive Branch to uniformly and vigorously enforce existing regulations, or alternatively, remove regulations that the County routinely fails to enforce.

Work to pass legislation which will require mandatory penalties for those companies who violate our County’s laws and regulations. Entities who chose to disregard our County’s rules know how to exploit the system. They know that currently it can take years to stop illegal business practices and the illegitimate businesses view the minor penalties, if enforced, as merely a cost of doing business. A penalty structure that increased in the amount of the fine, in accordance with the number of repeat infractions, would be one deterrent that could be used to discourage unlawful business operations.

Steve would like to know your thoughts on these issues. Click here to share them with him.

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