Drinking while floating the Deschutes River, failing to license your dog and numerous other infractions would become a little more costly if the city of Bend decides to increase its fines for civil infractions.

The city is in the process of updating its municipal code, and officials say they want to boost fines because the current penalties are nearly 20 years old.

“It’s been awhile, and the dollars don’t mean as much as they once did,” Assistant City Attorney Gary Fire-stone said. “Even though inflation has been low recently, these amounts have been around for a while, and there has been a fair amount of inflation since then.”

Today, Class A infractions, which include adults shooting off illegal fireworks or drinking alcohol while floating the river, carry a base fine of $500. The city is proposing to increase that amount to $700.

Penalties for Class B (lesser) infractions, such as public urination or having an animal at large, would jump from $250 to $400. Class C infractions, such as failing to clear snow or neglecting to license a dog, would cost people twice as much as they do now, rising from $100 to $200.

Those amounts don’t include the state and county fees that are typically included on citations, meaning the true cost will be higher than the base level. Currently, a Class A citation is $658 with the fees, Class B infractions are $372, and Class C are $217.

Municipal court judges can choose to reduce those fines. And because some additional charges are assessed on a sliding scale, it’s unclear how high maximum fines will go if the City Council adopts the new base levels.

The council is expected to adopt the new penalty structure next month. If that happens, the increased fine levels would take effect in mid-May.

Civil fines in cities throughout the state vary widely. In Hillsboro, the base fine for a violation is $250, and in Medford, those citations, including fees, can range from $145 to $250. In Corvallis, meanwhile, allowing an animal to roam at large can cost the owner about $50, but violent conduct can run up to $500.

According to Bend Police Department records, 1,232 citations were issued from Jan. 1, 2010, to March 18 of this year for violations of city ordinances. Of those, 63 percent were related to dogs, most of which were either unlicensed or running loose.

Only one person was cited under city code for discharging a weapon in city limits, the same number cited for drinking on the Deschutes River. But there were 48 citations written for drinking on unlicensed premises, which include public areas like Drake Park.

The city’s code enforcement officer, James Goff, hasn’t issued nearly as many citations as the Bend Police Department. He has written up only one person since the beginning of the year. The person cited in that case, which Goff called a “three strikes and you’re out” situation, failed to clean up his trash.

Goff said Bend’s fines aren’t out of line with other cities in the state. The city is neither the highest or lowest.

“With code enforcement, over 99 percent of our cases are resolved with voluntary compliance,” Goff said. “Whether our fines are $1 million a day or $100 a day, we have a pretty decent community that once they’re contacted by the city, they’re going to work with us, plain and simple.”

Bend’s top 10 citations

Number issued for violations of city ordinances only, from Jan. 1, 2010, to March 18, 2011:

354: Unlicensed dog

351: Dog at large

184: Parking violations

77: Animal nuisance, including barks and bites

49: Drinking violations

34: Avoiding intersections by crossing private property

29: Noise

15: Public urination/defecation

12: Skateboarding/rollerblading downtown

10: Curfew violations

Source: Bend Police Department