So you won't scrub the graffiti off your fence? Well, Salt Lake County soon could do it for you -- and send you the bill.

The county is considering an anti-graffiti ordinance that would get tough on property owners who, after having their homes or businesses tagged, refuse to clean up the mess. The measure -- covering all six townships and other unincorporated areas -- would enable county crews to venture onto that property and wipe away the markings at the owner's expense.

The fee: $250 plus materials and labor.

Graffiti Program Manager Nancy White insists that the statute wouldn't punish everyday victims of vandalism who discover spray paint on, say, their garage door. The county offers free paint, free solvent and even free labor to remove that graffiti upon request.

Instead, this measure targets property owners who show no interest -- or obstruct efforts -- to eliminate the tags.

"We give them every opportunity [to remove it]," White said. "It is just the hard-core person who won't clean it off or is so slow to clean it off that it hurts the neighborhood."

So how does a property owner go from a "victim" of neighborhood blight to a "contributor" to it? According to the proposed ordinance, it goes like this:

A property owner gets tagged and does nothing about it. Someone complains. The county then sends a letter to the property owner detailing the reasons for ridding the neighborhood of graffiti and the resources for removing it.

If, after 10 days, the resident still hasn't taken action -- or tapped the county for assistance -- officials send a second letter warning that the property has been declared a "nuisance" and that the owner must act. If the resident still shirks, the county then would take matters into its own hands after five days and bill the property owner for the materials and labor (plus a $250 fee) to do the work. If the owner refuses to pay, the county could place a lien on the land.

Is this approach too hard-fisted? While Magna Community Councilwoman Laura Jo McDermaid urges the county to show sensitivity toward seniors, people with disabilities and financially hurting families who may find it difficult to remove graffiti immediately, she said the proposed ordinance makes sense to keep graffiti from lowering property values and perpetuating crime.

"We have seen so many ordinances out here ignored," McDermaid said. "There has to be more teeth in some of these ordinances to help these communities clean up their problems."

Similar sentiments came from Kearns, where Community Councilman Charles Henderson -- recently named chairman of the Community Mobilization Partnership -- is working to keep violence such as the fatal shooting of a high school sophomore earlier this year from happening again.

Cracking down on graffiti, Henderson said, clamps down on a communication tool for gangs. "It has to come down as quickly as possible."

Yet Mount Olympus Community Council Chairman Jeff Silvestrini, whose council has taken a position against the proposed ordinance, fears it could hit residents with a double whammy -- first with vandalism and then with a fee.

Silvestrini said he would favor stricter penalties against the perpetrators of graffiti, but not against the property owners they have victimized.

"This isn't the right way to go," he said.

White maintains that the measure would provide the county a much-needed recourse for tidying up troublesome properties.

Graffiti "just doesn't define that house," she said. "It defines the whole neighborhood."

jstettler@sltrib.com