TEXAS CITY — Looking to make a few extra dollars from old items in your attic? For a while you won’t have to pay the city of Texas City if you decide to sell your stuff in a garage sale.
The city has backed down on a proposed ordinance that would have required a $10 permit to hold a garage sale and another $25 fee to put up garage sale signs. The proposed ordinance also would have limited the number of garage sales a resident could have each year.
The proposed ordinance gained unanimous approval from city commissioners two weeks ago.
But Mayor Matt Doyle asked that the ordinance be tabled for major revisions. The mayor admitted his office got an earful from residents.
While it appeared the revised ordinance will remove the permit requirement and lighten restrictions on the number of garage sales that can be conducted at one residence in a year, sign restrictions will be a part of the new plan, Doyle said.
“We are going to do something about the signs,” the mayor said. “The thing is you’ll have to (promote) your garage sale in the newspaper.”
The proposed restrictions would not have applied to garage sales at public places, such as a church or school.
Barbara White, an active community fundraiser, was one of the most vocal opponents to the measure.
“I didn’t see the need to encumber the inspection department and make people get a permit and to limit folks to twice a year,” White said.
If the goal was to reduce the number of roadside signs as well as those tacked to utility poles, then existing ordinances — if enforced — would suffice, she said.
The city was looking at the measure to crack down on signs, which often are forgotten when the garage sales are done. The city also was trying to prevent people from turning garage sales into business ventures with sales every week.
A handful of residents signed up to take the city commission to task for the proposed ordinance.
Among them was Vera Skaggs, a northwest Texas City resident. She disapproved of the permit fee requirement but supported other measures, including stricter enforcement of the sign ordinances. She said officials should “do what’s right for those who have these sales just to make a little spending money.
“I know of people from Galveston who have had garage sales to help pay for their repairs (from Hurricane Ike damage),” she said.
Doyle said he hoped to have a more resident-friendly ordinance in a month.
