Whenever
in this Code or in any ordinance of the Borough any act is prohibited
or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or whenever in
such Code or ordinance the doing of any act is required or the failure
to do any act is declared to be unlawful, where no specific penalty
is provided therefor, or where the law does not prescribe a different
penalty, the violator of any such provision of this Code or any ordinance
shall, upon conviction thereof, for every such violation, be sentenced
to pay a fine of not more than the maximum authorized by applicable
statutes and/or shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding the maximum now or hereafter authorized by law. (See the
Borough Code Sections 3306, 3307 and 3308.[1]) The fines, penalties and imprisonment authorized hereby
are for each violation, and each day that a violation continues shall
constitute a separate violation for which a separate maximum fine,
penalty and/or imprisonment may be imposed.
Any person
found guilty of or liable for violating any ordinance of the Borough
shall be assessed court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees
incurred by the Borough in the enforcement proceedings.
Nothing contained in this subsection shall in any way modify the
municipal claims and liens procedures employed under Borough ordinances
pursuant to the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act[2] or those employed for enforcement actions relating to
zoning and subdivision and land development violations pursuant to
the Municipalities Planning Code,[3] including the collection of attorney's fees as set
forth in those ordinances and their enabling acts.[4]
It shall be presumed that the attorney's fee hourly rate is
reasonable as long as it is equal to the hourly or other rate that
the Borough pays its Municipal Solicitor. Additional charges may be
reasonable depending on the complexity and difficulty of the matter,
and thus, the presumption of reasonableness at the approved current
rate for the Borough Solicitor for litigation relating to enforcement
shall be a floor and not a ceiling on said rates.
The Municipal Solicitor's rate shall be the rate that is then
in effect for the Borough and, if different, as concerns municipal
litigation and shall automatically correspond in the future to whatever
rate is approved by the Borough.
In order to protect the law-abiding taxpayers of the Borough from
the burden of expenses caused by persons violating Borough ordinances,
this subsection requires a mandatory payment of court costs and reasonable
attorney's fees incurred by the Borough in the enforcement proceedings,
where a person is found guilty of or liable for violating a Borough
ordinance.