In South Salt Lake, that number represents the percentage of people who rent rather than own their own homes. And a recent city-commissioned study found that tenants require more police services than their mortgaged counterparts.

Not only that, this central Salt Lake Valley municipality leads the state in that respect, according to data provided by the Utah Apartment Association.

"We need to declare war on slumlords in this city. We're not going to take it anymore," said Councilman Bill Anderson at last week's City Council meeting.

"They cannot make our citizens bear an undue burden because of their lack."

Last Wednesday, the council voted unanimously to raise business license fees on rental dwellings of three units or more from $64 to $100 per unit.

That per-unit fee had been $25 until early this year but initially bumped up to $64 when council members received the results of the fee study.

On March 28, the council will discuss implementing a Good Landlord Program that gives conscientious landowners the chance to trim their annual fee back to only $24 per unit.

"I would prefer to charge a fee per [emergency] call at the end of each year," said City Attorney Dave Carlson, who noted that the 88-unit South Parc complex - at $24 a pop - would have racked up a bill of $27,000.

Not surprisingly, that idea met significant resistance from various Realtor groups, Carlson said.

Some of the city's smaller complexes also saw their share of trouble.

A tri-plex near 2100 South and Major Street had 44 calls per unit during the same 12-month period when South Parc had 13.5 per unit.

Conversely, a nine-plex near 3000 South and 300 East incurred only one service call, total, for the same 12-month period, and a 98-unit building four blocks south only registered an average of one call per unit.

Practically speaking, no one will pay the new fee until the end of the year when business licenses are renewed, Carlson said.

"The study only confirmed what we already knew," he said. "It becomes very expensive for cities to deal with multifamily residential properties that are poorly managed."

South Salt Lake police Sgt. Brian Stahle said the city has worked closely with the Utah Apartment Association to draft the proposed ordinance.

"We're very supportive when cities 'incentivize' landlords to engage in good business practices," said Paul Smith, the association's executive director.

"The philosophy is to use a rifle approach and target the bad ones while rewarding the good ones."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com