LANSING | Those who try to pay for municipal services by writing bad checks will have to face a larger penalty -- in addition to making good on the check.
The Village Board, by a 5-0 vote, approved an ordinance that increases the fee the village charges for checks returned because of insufficient funds or on closed bank accounts.
The fee had been $10. It now will be $30.
When the Village Board reviewed the proposed increase at their Committee of the Whole session last week, officials justified the increase by noting this is the first time the fee had been increased in nearly three decades.
Trustee Julie Butler also said that a review of 15 other communities around Lansing show that a $30 fee for bad checks is average.
Village President Norm Abbott added that this could be the first of several municipal fee increases to bring them in line with what other area villages charge.
"There will be some changes in the next couple of months on various fees," he said.
In other business, the Village Board also voted 5-0 to approve a measure creating special licenses for people who solicit for commercial causes within the village limits. Door-to-door solicitors would have to buy a license from the clerk's office at a fee of $20 per day, or $50 per year.
Also, would-be solicitors would have to submit to a background check performed by the Lansing Police Department.
Those soliciting for religious, political or charitable organizations would be exempt from the licensing requirement.
Also approved was a measure meant to bring Lansing government into compliance with new state laws related to identity theft.
The ordinance approved by a 5-0 vote prevents the village from issuing documents that publicly display a person's Social Security number.
Also, the village would not be allowed to require a Social Security number on any document or application a person files with the village online, and village websites would not be allowed to require people to use their Social Security number in order to access those sites on the Internet.
