TUPELO, Miss. (AP) - The city of Tupelo is billing about two dozen property owners for mowing their property.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports (http://bit.ly/OG9K98) that the fees and penalties total $41,812.

Public Works Director Sid Russell says most involve foreclosed properties and absentee owners. In at least one case, the land owner is deceased.

City Council members this week unanimously approved the assessments, which will go against the properties as liens.

The city requires lots to be regularly mowed and maintained to prevent the presence of rodents, snakes and mosquitoes.

Russell says Tupelo enforces that code based on complaints it receives about individual lots.