The City of Steinbach has experienced a sharp increase in outstanding work orders which are issued by the city when a building project has not gone through final inspection or has failed inspection. Meeting in committee Tuesday night, councillors were told there are currently 230 outstanding work orders, many of them involving lot grading that has not been completed on multi-family and commercial projects.

The city currently requires a $2,000 refundable deposit for lot grading on single family homes and duplexes. Councillors were advised by the administration that this is very effective in motivating people to complete the work. Mayor Earl Funk says city council is in agreement to expand that system to include multi-family and commercial projects with a refundable deposit of one per cent of the project value with a $3,000 minimum.

"We've never seen this as an issue before. But with more and more outstanding work orders, we're going to have to look at doing something like this. We've given the administration direction on how to go and they are going to put it into our formal regulations. We'll have another chance to look at it before the final vote on it."

Funk adds the city is also planning to implement a $500 refundable deposit on building permits that are issued for decks, sheds, pools and renovations where the cost of the project is above $3,000.

"There are a large number of those projects that are also open and we need to get the final inspections done. Hopefully this will be a motivator for that."

Funk says council believes it is preferable to use refundable deposits instead of fines or other penalties to encourage people to finish projects in a way that is safe and meets all of the applicable codes.

City council also agreed that while the policy is being amended, the refundable lot grading deposit for single family homes and duplexes be increased by $500 to $2,500.

The administration has been asked to put the policies in writing and then bring them back to city council for final approval.