Cincinnati officials are about to give property owners more of an incentive to clean up their yards. City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld has proposed changing Cincinnati’s litter laws to allow for a full refund of fines for first-time violators if they remedy the problem within 10 days of being cited. Currently, when the city issues citations for littered properties, owners can recoup half their money if they clean up the property within that time period. The proposal already has the signatures of six other City Council members, giving it enough support for passage. Sittenfeld's proposal is an acknowledgement that illegal dumping is widespread in Cincinnati, he said, and the problem isn’t always the fault of the owner. Of all customer service requests to the city in 2011, more than 9,000 — or 14.2 percent of all requests — were related to litter, making it the single most frequent complaint. Sittenfeld timed the proposal’s introduction to coincide with the Great American Cleanup and Earth Day, both of which happen this weekend. To increase the public’s interest, Sittenfeld is asking residents to take a before-and-after picture of the area they clean up over the next week, and send the photos to his council office no later than April 27. Sittenfeld will then personally mow the lawn of whoever has the most dramatic cleanup. The photos may be mailed to pg.sittenfeld@cincinnati-oh.gov.