Mow your lawn or the City of Winnipeg will mow it for you – and charge you to do so.

A city-wide pilot project is making the neighbourhood livability by-law a little tougher by clamping down earlier on those who don’t cut their grass.

Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) told 680 CJOB Monday it may not seem like much of a priority, but added councillors hear about it all the time.

“I worked quite a bit around the University Manitoba, dealing with illegal rooming houses and many landlords there did not do a thing to their property,” said Lukes.

“They did not care for it … So this, too, will apply to landlords who do not take care of properties. And it will apply to residents.”

The city by-law states property owners have to keep grass on their properties under 15 cm. Normally, if residents complained about their neighbour’s grass, it would take between 6-8 weeks to be taken care of.

The pilot project will bring that down to about two weeks, said Lukes.

“As crazy as it sounds, this was a top issue during the election campaign and it’s been a top issue in this ward for four years,” she added.

The city bylaw officers in the past have gone out, sometimes four or five six times to a property to try and get compliance,” she said. Now, the process will be a warning first, time to comply and then the city will take care of it.

If by-law officers are sent out more than twice or if people are repeat offenders, there will be additional charges, which will appear on a property owner’s tax bill.

A first fine will be $250 on a property tax bill. By-law officers will be able to hand out fines of $150, with an early-payment option of $75, she said.

-With files from Jeff Braun

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