The city of Merced has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. Abandoned homes are often eyesores, but can also be health and safety hazards.

The city is looking into passing an emergency ordinance that would allow the city to maintain the vacant properties.

Merced ranks third highest in the nation for home foreclosures, according to Realty Trac Inc., an online foreclosure information company.

Merced city council member Rick Osorio said, "even though they say there's 800 homes in foreclosure, that counts from the first time someone misses a payment, we figure we have around 250 homes currently."

Osorio went on to say, "there's a limbo between when a person walks away and the lender really gets the property back, it can be anywhere from 3 to 6 months, they turn off water, utilities, its all gets cut off because no one is paying the bill."

Osorio says taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for the upkeep, but who would? The bank? The new home owner? The city is trying to determine an answer to that question.

Not only are homes in foreclosure eyesores Osorio said, but they can also attract vandals, and if there's a pool, possibly breed mosquitoes with West Nile Virus.

"We need to have an emergency ordinance to take care of problems like this," Osorio said. City attorneys have been instructed to develop a plan and come back to the city council in 45 days.

California has five other cities that rank in the top ten for foreclosures, including Stockton, Sacramento and Modesto.