SPRUCE PINE – People who litter within Spruce Pine town limits could soon be subject to stiffer fines.
The Spruce Pine Town Council, at its regular meeting Monday, March 9, discussed the possibility of increasing the penalty for city litter citations.
The current standard city citation for littering is $50, while a state citation is $250.
Spruce Pine Police Chief Bill Summerlin said his officers are instructed to mainly write city citations because the fine money comes back to the town.
Councilmember Rocky Buchanan started the discussion on litter in town limits and said he would be in favor of increasing the city penalty to $500 or more to discourage people from littering.
“I want to see some convictions,” Buchanan said. “I want to see the paper say someone was charged $500 for throwing out a Hardee’s bag or a Pepsi can.”
Buchanan added he would be in favor of adding cameras to heavily littered areas to catch offenders in the act.
“It’s gotten terrible,” he said. “I guarantee you if they paid $500, it would not happen again.”
Town Clerk Darlene Butler said any changes to city citation penalties would have to be first discussed with town attorney Lloyd Hise, who is expected to be at the council’s next meeting to help finalize the town’s appearance standards commission.
Spruce Pine Mayor Darla Harding suggested the council speak with Hise about the city citations at that time.
In the meantime, Summerlin said he and his officers would be on high alert for people littering in town limits.
“One thing we can do is work by complaints,” Summerlin said. “This is the best way we can handle it. If we see someone throw something out of their car, we’ll bust their hind end.”