TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND FROM: Councilmember Ortiz
CITY COUNCIL Councilmember Campos
Councilmember Tordillos
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: August 22nd, 2025
Approved Date: August 22nd, 2025
SUBJECT: Amendment of the San José Municipal Code to Increase the Maximum Administrative Penalties
RECOMMENDATION
1. Direct the City Manager to:
a. Increase the per day maximum administrative penalty amount from $2,500 to $15,000 for each ongoing violation; and
b. Increase the maximum administrative penalty from $100,000 to $500,000 within a 365-day period, exclusive of administrative costs, interest and restitution for compliance re-inspections, for any related series of violations
BACKGROUND
Blighted properties across San José, particularly in Districts 3, 5, and 7, are creating significant challenges for the City. Absentee property owners who fail to maintain their properties impose ongoing costs on the community. These neglected sites often become hotspots for:
• Overgrown vegetation, fires, and unsafe conditions
• Increased unhoused encampments, trespassing, and related concerns • Elevated levels of crime and illicit activity
• Persistent graffiti and property damage
These conditions not only degrade neighborhood quality of life but also require disproportionate City resources to monitor, remediate, and enforce compliance.
The City of San José has an obligation to ensure safe, clean, and livable environments for its residents. A critical component of this responsibility is holding property owners accountable for maintaining their parcels in compliance with health, safety, and community standards. To achieve this, the City intends to target the highest penalties toward the worst offenders, particularly absentee property owners who make no effort to bring their properties into compliance, so that fines serve as a meaningful deterrent rather than a minor cost of doing business.
COUNCIL AGENDA: 8/26/2025
FILE: 25-890
ITEM: 2.19
Current fine structures are insufficient to deter chronic neglect, particularly among absentee property owners with substantial financial capacity who treat fines as a minor cost of doing business.
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.