CROWN POINT | Lake County commissioners voted Wednesday to veto a controversial ordinance that would have enriched county government coffers at the expense of landlords stuck with deadbeat tenants.

Commissioners unanimously opposed an ordinance that would have created a $100 fee charged to landlords to enforce court eviction orders.

Commissioner Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, herself a landlord, said, "I don't support that. If you've got a rotten tenant and want to get rid of him, why should it cost an extra $100?"

The disapproval will bounce the ordinance back to the Lake County Council, which approved the measure in a 5-1 vote last week. The council could override the veto next month.

Lake County Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez first proposed the eviction fee in September as a way to reduce the cost of the Sheriff's Department to taxpayers without having to reduce services through layoffs.

Council President Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, opposed the new fee on grounds it is unfair to charge all landlords the same fee when only a small percentage of evictions require police help.