Amnesty for NYC Parking Tickets?
Posted by Larry Berezin on Sat, Feb 14, 2009 @ 10:33 AM
There was a flurry of activity in Chicago yesterday. It was the last day for the parking ticket amnesty program. Mayor Richard Daly, facing a $469M Budget gap over the next two years, hoped to raise $1M between December 1, 2008 and February 14, 2009 with the amnestry program.
The program allows people with parking tickets issued prior to January 1, 2007 to pay their fine in full and receive 50% off penalties. For example, if a ticket carries a fine of $50 and $50 penalty, a payment of $75 was payment in full.
Here are the numbers:
2.8M tickets issued each year in Chicago
3.5M tickets eligible for the amnesty program
58,000 vehicles booted for unpaid parking tickets
2 unpaid parking tickets more than 1 year old, makes you eligible for the boot
What about an amnesty program for NYC parking tickets? Here are the numbers for NYC:
10M tickets issued last year
>$625M in revenue
NYC doesn't have any amnesty program for unpaid parking tickets. NYC has three settlement programs that offer reduction in fines in exchange for not contesting your parking ticket. One of the programs is for private passenger cars, while the other two are designed for commercial vehicles.
Other New York cities/towns have initiated amnesty programs to generate revenue. For example, Brookhaven initiated a program from February 15, 2009 to May 15, 2009 offering 50% off your parking ticket fines. $1M in revenue is outstanding. Albany's amnesty program ended on December 12, 2008 and offered 50% off overdue parking tickets.
What conclusions can be drawn:
Parking tickets are big business
Generating significant revenue
Settlement programs that don't expire in several months are preferable over short term amnesty programs
The motivation for amnesty programs is a quick revenue jolt
More parking tickets are issued now than ever before due to the economic crisis faced by government
Do you agree with these conclusions? What other conclusions do you draw?