City officials are acknowledging Boston’s failure to stymie rampant rodent infestations, but actual solutions are proving harder to come by.

A public committee held on August 1 by several City Councilors aimed to pinpoint why exactly officials are having such difficulty addressing the rodent problem. The city budget has included increasing funding in recent years for pest control with little practical improvement for residents.

Councilors have held public meetings each year for three years running to address the issue, but officials say they’re still struggling to find effective ways to get at the root causes due to federal regulations and toothless penalties for repeat offenders.

“This is an issue we’ve brought attention to again and again, but there are still reports of increased rodent infestations,” said Ed Flynn, City Council president. “These quality-of-life issues are critical. They’re not sexy, but if you don’t solve them people will just leave the city. In and around Andrew Square, I see so much trash and so many pests that I think we need to declare it a public health emergency.”

Boston was once a model city for pest control. Public servants used to use dry ice to render warrens uninhabitable, but that’s been rendered impractical by national regulations forcing the city to use name-brand dry ice that’s hard to acquire and harder to get on-site before it evaporates.

There’s no chemical difference between standard dry ice and dry ice specifically designated for pest control, but once someone patents the use federal guidelines demand the city use product earmarked for flushing warrens. The city has since bought two machines that use carbon monoxide to produce similar effects somewhat less efficiently.

“Dry ice was a very good tool, but because of federal regulations it’s become very difficult to use. Currently regulations say we have to buy the labeled product, called ‘Rat Ice,’ about 60 miles outside the city. It starts to evaporate as soon as you pick it up.” said John Ulrich, assistant commissioner of the Environmental Services Department. “It just became too challenging. If we had a supplier inside the city it would be more available, but our solution now is these machines.”

Enforcement is another factor. Rat infestations are exacerbated by open dumpsters, and several councilors said that repeat offenders see current fines as simply the cost of doing business.

The city’s environmental services department is now interviewing for a 14th pest control investigator, but that might not have much of an effect if those caught simply pay the fines and continue to violate city statutes. Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune characterized it as a violation of the basic dignity of residents.

“There are dumpsters that have been violation after violation. We need to ask about the capacity to do more than just a once-ayear check, especially on repeat offenders. A lot of these unsightly dumpsters are in neighborhoods that have been traditionally ignored, and would not fly in other areas,” she said.

“These are in front of people’s homes. There’s something that smacks in your face, ‘We don’t care about people in this neighborhood, we don’t care about the street, and we can put the dumpsters anywhere we want.’”