COUNCIL SCRAPS $13 BRUSH FEE; MONTHS-LONG CONTROVERSY BROUGHT TO AN END.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

After months of angry complaints and threats of lawsuits, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted Friday to rescind a $13 brush clearance inspection fee that it had staunchly supported earlier this year.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, once a strong defender of the fee, argued to rescind it because the program was hopelessly bungled and delayed.

She blamed Mayor Richard Riordan for making it impossible to save imposition of the fee while other council members blamed residents for not paying it.

``This program has been riddled with problems from the beginning,'' she said, and was dealt a death blow when a corrected notification letter, due for release June 1, was held indefinitely by the Mayor's Office for review.

``That letter has been held in limbo for the last couple of weeks. The department was unable to send it out, while the Mayor's Office was reviewing the letter.

``By that letter not going out, in my view, it really caused the final problem.''

The council, which voted unanimously to impose the fee last fall and then voted overwhelmingly to reinstate it after a temporary suspension this spring, agreed to refund the $900,000 already paid by property owners.

The program with its multiple false starts ``has been so confusing that we need to start fresh,'' said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski.

Critics of the fee said they were relieved but still wary.

``It's nice they did it, it was a smart thing to do, even though we told them in the beginning it wasn't a smart thing to do,'' said Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, who said he remains concerned that the fee will resurface next year.

Officials with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which was poised to sue the city, saw the reversal as an acknowledgment that the fee violated voter-approved Proposition 218, which forbids new taxes without a vote of the public.

During the bristling debate Friday, council members pointed fingers at everyone from residents to Riordan.

``This is about people who didn't pay complaining to you that they don't want to pay,'' said Councilman Nate Holden. ``Because some people started squealing - and then you have more problems and more problems.''

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter shot back, ``I don't think the problem is the council. The council's not holding the letter up.''

The mayor's budget director, Steve Rubin, said the council's action validated Riordan's concerns about the wording and timing of the letter.

By the time the revised letter was ready for mailing, the brush clearance inspections were completed, confounding compliance deadlines and eliminating property owners' ability to inspect their own property to avoid paying the fee, officials said.

``The very concerns the council raised today are the reason why the mayor held the letter two weeks ago, and it's gratifying to see that Councilwoman Chick now shares the mayor's concerns,'' Rubin said.

The city will lose about $2.3 million in revenue that the assessment was expected to raise, plus whatever costs are required to mail back the checks already sent, fire officials said.

``I recognize there are some budgetary things here, but the right thing to do is pay them back,'' said Councilman Hal Bernson, who had called for refund of the fee when the controversy erupted in April.

Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton said it's unclear what the mailing and administrative costs of the refund will be, but estimated it will not be expensive. It's also unclear when the refunds will be mailed.

``There is definitely no time for when it will go out,'' said Battalion Chief Emile Mack.

The fees, he said, ``would have offset some of the costs of this year's very successful brush program.''

In contrast to last year, when large expanses of private and public land remained uncleared well into brush-fire season, this year's inspections are completed, city-owned land has been cleared and a brush clearance agreement with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is in place, Mack said.

This year's program was covered in the budget, he said, but it's uncertain how the department will pay for the inspections next year.