La Quinta Municipal Code Ch. 11.84 False Statements and Reports

A. No person shall willfully make to or file with any city officer or department any report, statement, application or information which is false or untrue in any particular and which has a tendency to mislead any employee, officer, board, department or other body of the city in the performance of official duty.

B. Whenever it is determined that a person has willfully made or filed any false or misleading statement or information concerning a material issue or matter, in or with any application for a permit, license, approval, entitlement, or any other action by a city officer, employee, board, department or other body, then this will constitute ground for denial of such application. In the case of any such denial, there shall generally be no refund of any application fee. No such denial shall prevent the new filing of another application for the same or similar permit, license, approval, entitlement or action.

(Ord. 568 § 18, 2018; Ord. 39 § 1, 1983; Ord. 10 § 1, 1982)

A. The filing of a false complaint or report of a public nuisance under this code is prohibited, and repeated violators will be liable for the city's response costs therefor.

B. A false complaint or report of a public nuisance under this chapter will be determined based on the false reporter's intent to annoy or harass and/or the reporter's repeated verifiable false reports. An intent to annoy or harass is established by proof of repeated calls over a period of time, however short, that are unreasonable under the circumstances.

C. After the false reporter is given one (1) warning, the cost of a subsequent response(s) shall be assessed against the false reporter for the city's response in any subsequent false report within a sixty (60)-day period. The city shall bill the false reporter for the subsequent response costs by mail by sending a written citation. Payment of the fees shall be due within thirty (30) days of the date the bill is deposited in the mail. If full payment is not received within the required time for payment, the bill will be delinquent, and the false reporter shall be charged interest at the maximum legal rate from the date the payment period expires and a further penalty in the amount of one hundred dollars ($100.00).

D. The costs assessed as a result of a subsequent city response to a false complaint or report shall constitute a debt of the false reporter in favor of the city and may be collected in any manner authorized by law and are recoverable in a civil action filed by the city in a court of competent jurisdiction. The remedies provided by this chapter are in addition to all other administrative, civil and criminal remedies available to the city with respect to the false report which gave rise to the need for the city response under this chapter.

(Ord. 568 § 18, 2018)