Update: Watch Monday night's council meeting. Neal Andrews will be introducing a policy consideration to end the 911 fee. The document can be found here. The item is No. 9 on the agenda. The meeting is packed with interesting items and could run late.

THERE'S NOTHING LIKE the mention of new fees or taxes from Ventura city staff to strike fear in the hearts of our citizens. Two-plus hours of testimony and 47 comment cards later, an exhausted City Council decided to table their own comment Monday night on five different versions of a plan to regulate one- to three-unit rentals, which are now entirely exempt from taxes. The issue will come back again on Jan. 12.

According to a staff report, there are an estimated 6,000 unregulated rental units in Ventura. These rentals make up less than 40 percent of the city's rental housing, but account for nearly 90 percent of the documented substandard housing complaints. City staff would like to be more proactive with these rentals before they become severe problems and affect the safety of tenants.

Multiple plans to finance inspections of these units did not sit well with the large crowd of landlords gathered Monday night who complained that adding a business license tax based on gross receipts plus annual inspection fee of $33 would be a hardship. This was just one of five options presented; two required no additional fees or taxes. The staff report can be found here.

The city already taxes four-or-more-rental-unit businesses and inspects rentals of three or more connected units on a property. One- to two-unit rental properties, such as single family homes and duplexes, are entirely exempt from taxes and inspections.

THIS PLAN TO RECOVER COSTS for city safety services directly from those involved went over about as well as the $99 weed abatement fee plan did in April and the 911 fee did in February. City staff backed off on the weed fee and now is considering ending the 911 fee, too.

So how DO you keep citizens safe in these challenging budget times? Perhaps 20-30 city positions will be lost in the upcoming budget process and cutbacks may include up to $8 million dollars following a round of cutbacks last year totaling more than $7 million.

A few weeks ago the chambers were pretty much empty as the City Council was briefed on these cuts. I figure it was only me, the Star's Ventura reporter and a council gadfly or two who were really listening to City Manager Rick Cole's predictions of the upcoming gloom and doom.

It seems many of our citizens only get activated when they think government services may end up costing them more. News of cuts doesn't draw much of a crowd, unless of course that government service is something that directly affects someone. And then they want it taken care of pronto.