New York restaurant owners have been complaining about it for years, and however inadvertently, the city has just confirmed it: Health Department restaurant fines are more about generating dollars for government than keeping diners safe from bad food practices.
As The Post’s Sally Goldenberg reported last week, of the 273,999 fines issued for 2012, the largest number — nearly a third of the total — are lumped together under the category “all other.” Restaurant officials complain that this includes things like light bulbs that are too dim, cracked tiles, dirty aprons and insufficient documentation that no trans fats are being served.
Not that this is a problem for the city. Why would it be? The expansion of business fines from all city agencies has dramatically upped the city’s take — nearly doubling to $850 million over the last decade. It’s no coincidence this jump comes at a time when city spending has also been rising precipitously.
None of this is new, of course: The Post has documented complaints from street-cart vendors and bar owners who say they’re routinely hit with exorbitant fines for seemingly minor violations. It’s yet another example of City Hall undermining one of the principal drivers of jobs and opportunity with its Third World approach to business.
No one disputes that actual threats to patron safety need to be reined in quickly, with hefty sanctions for willful offenders. But as industry officials note, all violations are not created equal, and the city ought to show common sense before sending inspectors out each day on an aggressive hunt for tax revenues.
Last fall, City Councilman Dan Garodnick introduced a measure that would be a step in the right direction. It would authorize the city’s 311 help line to notify small businesses by text or e-mail about customers’ complaints, giving them a chance to comply before facing fines.
But there’s a much bigger problem here, and it has to do with an inherent conflict of interest. The primary purpose of the Health Department’s power to fine restaurants is to protect the public from bad health practices — not to provide a city spending far beyond its means with patsies that it can shake down for more revenue.