Whether it be ignoring junk cars stored on a residential property in violation of a local ordinance, violations of local outdoor-burning rules, or sidewalk-upkeep neglect, municipal governments eventually incur unnecessary headaches and, possibly, legal costs as the problems multiply and eventually reach a scope that can no longer be tolerated.

Wednesday's Butler Eagle included two stories dealing with situations that apparently had been allowed to fester, despite ordinances that should have discouraged them from existing at all, or at least for very long.

In Middlesex Township, the issue is a tree service company that apparently was operating out of — and storing equipment on — a property in an area zoned residential. In Slippery Rock Borough, some residents are unhappy about improper water drainage and outdoor trash accumulation involving a property, owned by an out-of-the county landlord, that primarily houses college students.

In both municipalities, it should not have taken complaints from residents to bring attention to the problems, just like it should not take resident complaints before obvious problems such as bad street conditions are addressed.

Middlesex' zoning ordinance prohibits the kind of property use in which the tree services company was involved, apparently on at least several occasions. A person who lives near the property in question said she believes the company had been violating 10 ordinances at the height of its activity there.

Yet, township officials allowed the situation to exist for some time before finally trying to crack down.

Meanwhile, in Slippery Rock, the borough has an ordinance mandating that property owners be responsible for the drainage problems that their properties cause to others. Then there are the obvious health and safety issues tied to improperly stored garbage.

Municipal officials are elected in part to watch for ordinance violations, since ordinances are enacted into law by the municipal government bodies on which they serve. When others call attention to the problems, municipal officials should doggedly pursue remedies allowed under the ordinances; they shouldn't need to delay action by way of strategy meetings on how to proceed.

But instead of spending all of their time working on new and necessary carryover issues, officials in these two municipalities continue to face complaints and questions dealing with these issues that should have been addressed — and resolved —virtually from the time the apparent ordinance violations first began occurring.

If stricter rules and bigger fines are needed to make potential violators take notice, then municipal governments shouldn't have to be prodded to opt for that recourse.

Sometimes ordinance violations seem destined to evolve into lengthy legal battles, but that should not deter municipalities from working to ensure that ordinances are not violated.

The more municipalities ignore ordinance violations, the bigger their problems will be later as more and more people choose to violate them because they have no fear of facing penalties.

Middlesex and Slippery Rock officials should remember that as they try to address the avoidable issues currently before them.