A scaled-back bill to monitor scrap metal sales faces a Jacksonville City Council vote today with less opposition evident after a series of revisions.

“I wanted to personally thank you all for the help you gave to all the small recyclers. … You really did listen,” scrap processor Arlen Vernimo emailed council members after committee discussions last week.

Sheriff John Rutherford sought legislation (2011-766) late last year requiring metal processing companies to send police electronic reports each business day about their transactions. The reporting was patterned on a system used to track transactions at pawn shops.

Rutherford said police needed the information to help them stem a surge in thefts of air-conditioning units for the copper tubing — which have more than doubled in two years — as well as thefts of manhole covers, highway guardrails, light poles, metal grave markers, catalytic converters and other items targeted by burglars.

Companies that buy scrap objected that they would be overwhelmed with work keeping the police updated. And scrap sellers joined the businesses in objecting to a requirement that sellers get a police permit, good for 72 hours, before hauling their wares out for sale.

Later versions of the bill dropped the permit requirement for sellers and reduced the types of transactions that have to be reported by the next morning.

That also assures buyers the bulk of their records won’t become public records that could be subject to review by competitors.

Council members added a provision to end the regulation in three years unless Rutherford can provide evidence it’s been effective. The sheriff agreed to file reports annually and said he expected results could be similar to a law in Orange County credited with cutting some thefts by about one-fourth.

And Rutherford said he’s still confident the reporting system can help police spot enough stolen metal to curb the city’s burglaries. He agreed to assure businesses the Sheriff’s Office would provide, for free, software the companies will need to meet the reporting requirement.

“It works with pawn shops,” Rutherford told council members. “It can work with these guys.”