McAllen cracking down on garage sales

McALLEN — The Saturday afternoon garage sale is no longer as easy and emptying your closets and hammering a sign onto your front lawn.

A new city ordinance in McAllen restricts residents to selling only “used merchandise or personal property” — not new items, as is allowed under the former code. The regulation is set to go into effect this week.

The more stringent regulations follow city officials’ discovery that residents were selling gift baskets and tourist merchandise out of their homes under the auspices of a garage sale, said McAllen Planning Director Juli Rankin.

“Frankly, before this came to light I didn’t think it was that active,” she said. “Around holiday times we do get people who make things, like figurines and gift baskets.

“This last Valentine’s Day we had people make up Valentine’s baskets with candy and flowers and then sell them from their residence.”

Such activity disrupts the quality of life in the city’s neighborhoods, officials say.

Over the last decade, regulations surrounding garage sales in McAllen and other Hidalgo County cities have become increasingly stringent. In 2006, the city of San Juan started cracking down on residents who hosted garage sales without a permit, fining them up to $200.

In McAllen, the number of garage sale permits allowed each year is whittled down to two per residence under the new rules. And the sales can’t run longer than three days, as where once they might have lasted an entire week.

Not that there’s any shortage of people selling their old clothes and sporting equipment on their front yards, said Jurella Costilla, a self-described garage sale aficionado.

“My neighbor and I, she would set the coffee pot to start brewing at 6 and up and out the door,” the North McAllen resident said.

“Sometimes, you find brand-new stuff that didn’t work out… exercise equipment is always a good thing to find at a garage sale.”

On weekends the city’s code enforcement officers patrol neighborhoods with lists of authorized garage sales, ordering those without permits to shut down or face a $65 fine.

Last year, McAllen issued an average of 120 garage sale permits per weekend, according to city records.

Asked how they would determine whether an item is new or used, Rankin said for the moment that decision would be left to the individual officer.

“If you’re selling used clothes and shoes and you have an iron in the box they’re not going to fine you,” she said. “They’re looking for people selling 10 irons.”

The new McAllen regulations also provide an additional benefit, protecting citizens from the state comptroller.

According to the Texas Tax Code, state residents holding more than two garage sales a year are required to collect sales tax and submit it to the Texas Comptroller’s office.

Costilla, who holds garage sales herself when her house becomes overwhelmed with the items she’s purchased from other people’s yards, said she considered the new regulations fair.

“Two (a year) is decent. By the time people gather things, it takes a lot of time to prepare for one,” she said. “I wouldn’t want someone having a garage sale down the street from me all the time.”

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James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.

Dave Gragg

Metro Editor

The Monitor

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McAllen, Texas

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