Dayton mayoral candidate A.J. Wagner announced a proposal Monday to fight the deterioration of Dayton’s neighborhoods, starting with aggressive enforcement of housing codes, aimed largely at owners of multiple properties.

For any property being sold, Wagner’s plan would require the exterior to be brought up to code standards at the time of sale, or require the costs to make those repairs to be put in escrow.

Wagner also called for the city to crack down on “irresponsible property owners” who have blatant violations, by adding more inspectors and shortening the time to fix violations. He said absentee landlords should be the target, while the city should work with poor individuals who own their own homes.

Wagner proposed a new system where Dayton could adopt civil penalties for housing code violations, and use those to secure liens against all of the properties owned by an offending landlord, forcing that landlord to deal with the issue.

“Our neighborhoods are dying,” Wagner said Monday to a group of neighborhood leaders at Ghostlight Coffee on Wayne Avenue. “The vacant houses, overgrown yards, trash-filled alleys and unrepaired homes are a cancer driving out residents.”

Wagner is running for mayor against incumbent Gary Leitzell and city commissioner Nan Whaley. Several others say they plan to run for mayor, but have not yet filed petitions with the Board of Elections. The deadline is 4 p.m. Friday.

Whaley said of Wagner’s plan, “This isn’t a neighborhood plan, it’s a housing plan and a bad one at that.” She asked where the money will come from for Wagner’s extra inspectors, and said Wagner wrongly downplays the city’s demolition efforts. Wagner’s plan claims Dayton spent $10 million on demolition last year, when the total was actually $2.36 million in 2012, according to city officials, and roughly $10 million from 2009-12.

“We need to create incentives for buying and restoring blighted property, but Wagner’s plan punishes homeowners and creates more bureaucratic red tape,” Whaley said.

Leitzell said the solution is “much simpler” than Wagner’s plan.

“Marketing Dayton at a national level and attracting talented people and immigrants to fill the hundreds of unfilled high-tech jobs here would go a long way toward solving some of these neighborhood problems,” Leitzell said.

Wagner said he is uniquely qualified to deal with neighborhood housing problems, because he’s dealt with code violations as an attorney, property tax enforcement as a county auditor, foreclosure cases as a judge, and probate cases as a referee and counselor.