It happens all over the city and it's you who winds up paying to clean it up.

When criminals illegally dump trash and tires on public and private property, the taxpayer ultimately foots the bill. It's a problem that's adding up in cost and frustration.

"It just needs to stop," west Wichita homeowner and Vietnam veteran J.D. Irwin said.

Irwin is among those flat-out tired of all the illegally dumped tires.

"I'm at the point now where I want to get involved and do something about it," Irwin said.

For the third time this year, he's found about 20 tires heaped up or tossed around the alley behind his property.

He made the discovery late Thursday afternoon and contacted KAKE News early Friday morning. The pile of tires actually blocks access to the alley on one side.

Irwin says he suspects an unknown local tire shop is at fault.

"It saves them money because they don't have to pay the recycle fee," Irwin said.

The recycle fee is typically $2 per tire off-rim, according to people at the Wichita Transfer Disposal Station.

The illegal tire dumping is not just happening in Irwin's backyard, it's an ongoing battle all over the city.

Stoltz is the new director of the office that handles these cases. He says his code enforcement has received 4,600 nuisance calls this year. The office historically has not statiscally separated those out to reflect how many of each type of call it received. But Stoltz says he has an estimate of how many are related to illegal dumping.

"I'd say there are several hundred dumping cases in the city area in a given year," said Stoltz, Director of the Metropolitan Area Building Construction Department.

Stoltz says code enforcement officers and other agencies, such as the police, work together to respond.

"It's a crime just like any other crime," Stoltz said.

He said illegal dumping actually falls under Chapter 5 of the city code that also includes stealing and other general crimes. He says it's a misdemeanor that carries a minimum $250 fine. He says the judge can increase that fine up to $2,500 depending on the severity of the crime.

He says just like any other crime it's costly. If the items are dumped on city or public property, public works comes out to take care of the problem. If it's on private property, the homeowner has to foot the bill.

"It's like anything else: who ends up having to pay is taxpayers," Stoltz said.

Stoltz says the city is working on solutions.

"What we are going to begin to do is map these kinds of calls so we can tell, quantitatively, where these kinds of calls are happening in the city and then we can begin some extra watch or extra patrols," Stoltz said.

He says that also includes constantly pursuing new technology such as cameras to help with surveillance.

Irwin says he'd like to see the city regulate tire shops by forcing them to mark their tires so they can be tracked.

Stoltz says they haven't had a discussion of that nature yet, but would be open to considering any option that might help the city tackle the problem.

Homeowners say they hope the city follows through and does something soon because they simply have just had enough.

"It's just not right," Irwin said.

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Ultimately, Stoltz says, it comes down to everyone in the community being on the lookout for this kind of criminal behavior. If you see someone illegal dumping materials, please call the police. If you would like to report an illegal dumping or ask for assistance with removal, please call the city's Central Inspection Office at (316) 268-4460.