The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to re-authorize a billboard inspection program that will charge fees from outdoor advertising companies.

The Off-Site Signs Periodic Inspection Program will be handled by the Department of Building and Safety. The inspections will allow the department to compile an inventory of both legal and illegal billboards throughout the city.

To pay for the program, the department will charge billboard owners $186 per sign if the owner submits the correct permits. If the department has to research the permits, the cost jumps to $342 per sign.

The ordinance will come up again on Dec. 17 for final approval, according to Nate Kaplan, press deputy to Councilman Bill Rosendahl, the main sponsor of the re-authorization. Once approved, inspections would begin in February 2009.

Rosendahl, who has long fought against the spread of billboards throughout his affluent Westside district, to fine the owners of illegal billboards as well forcing the sign owners to remove the billboards, Kaplan said.

The City Council approved the re-authorization by an 11-0 vote. The Council originally authorized a billboard inventory in 2002, but a subsequent lawsuit and settlement with outdoor advertising companies prevented implementation of the billboard count. Billboard companies objected to the original ordinance on the grounds that it violated First Amendment rights to free speech.

Since then, billboards have proliferated throughout the city and billboard opponents have alleged many of the new billboards were put up without permits. Critics also charged that even with the settlement, the Department of Building and Safety has dragged its feet in counting billboards.

In the last year, hundreds of digital billboards have sprung up, prompting a backlash from local residents upset over the bright lights that penetrate into their homes and have the potential to distract drivers.