COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. - Millions of dollars in fines going unpaid in Southwest Florida because of abandoned and foreclosed homes, but some creative solutions may change that.

A total of 19 homes in some stage of foreclosure have racked up $1.3 million dollars in code violation fines.

"They have not corrected the violation and there the fines are continuing to accrue," Marco Island Chief of Code Compliance Eric Wardle says.

Together, the fines grow by $5,600 a day, but Marco Island is taking steps to get some of the bank owned properties in compliance. The City Council made a deal with Countrywide, the mortgage holder on one foreclosed lot, to fix the sea wall and pay $46,000, not the $80,000 in fines that have accumulated.

"Its an incentive for the bank that they're not gonna be able to sell the property if until they settle the issues. That's an incentive that there's fines on the property, and the fines are continues, and until the problem is fixed, the fines will continue to rise," Wardle says.
As Marco deals with fines, Collier County is taking a much different approach. Rather than hitting lenders with a bill, Code Enforcement shoots them an E-mail.

"Let them know what the violations are, establish a time frame, mutual correspondence, communications back and forth and typically, we're getting all positive responses from lenders at this point in time," Collier County Code Enforcement Foreclosure Investigator Mario Bono says.

Since the "Blight Prevention Program" was established in November, Collier Code Enforcement officials say its saved the county $73,000 in mowing, cleaning and other costs. Plus, the violations are being fixed much more quickly.

"We sent an E-mail out this morning and we got a response today that its going to be done by Thursday. I mean, its that quick," Bono says.

Bono says getting the properties fixed up without the hassle of going through court hearings and further administrative processes is helping them to reach their goal. That's for you to drive down any street in the county and not be able to pick out a foreclosed home by sight.