iStock illustration

Boston could soon gain the authority to impose fines of up to $2,000 for property owners, landlords and businesses that violate the city’s sanitary code, under a bill that Beacon Hill lawmakers sent to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk Monday.

The current maximum fine is $300 for non-criminal violations of city ordinances.

While Senate Democrats earlier this month killed the Boston home rule petition that would have temporarily adjusted the city’s property-tax split, lawmakers quietly finalized the fee hike measure (H.4507) during their end-of-session frenzy.

The city’s fine limit was last raised in 1989. The bill also allows Boston to adjust the maximum fine for inflation every five years.

The House passed the Rep. Kevin Honan bill on July 22. The Senate gave the bill initial approval on July 30 but didn’t pass it back to the House until Dec. 26. Both branches enacted the measure Monday afternoon.

Boston City Councilor Liz Breadon, who co-filed the initial proposal, has said stiffening penalties can help crack down on repeat offenders who do not keep their properties clean – and are not deterred by the existing fee. The measure also aims to tackle the city’s rodent problem.

“One of the big issues that we have is that property owners, we have a few chronic offenders, who basically see paying a fine as a cost of doing business, and they don’t actually improve the sanitation, they don’t improve conditions around the building,” Breadon told the News Service in July.