Parking tickets are down, but revenue is up
Increased fines result of rush-hour penalties and increased towing
Motorists in Toronto were issued about 132,000 fewer parking tickets last year but — thanks to tough new rules — they paid $15.1 million more in fines.
Parking enforcement officers, police officers and municipal law enforcement officers issued 2,498,660 tickets, a 5-per-cent drop from 2,630,402 issued the previous year, according to a report discussed Wednesday by the government management committee.
The number of tickets written has dropped steadily from 2.9 million in 2008, except for a slight uptick in 2011.
The reasons for last year’s drop, city staff say, include increased fines prompting greater compliance with parking rules; a new rule that gives motorists a 10-minute grace period after expiration at “pay-and-display” meters; and officers taking time away from regular ticketing to oversee towing of vehicles.
Total ticket revenue last year jumped to $104,954,929 from $89,838,566.
The city attributes much of the windfall to a January 2014 boost in the fine for parking in no-stopping zones during rush hour from $60 to $150.
The city collected more previous-year fines, mostly because of a February 2014 change that lets police tow the illegally parked vehicles of people who already have three or more unpaid or unchallenged tickets.
“We could certainly use that money for housing, for transportation, any number of issues.” COUNCILLOR PAUL AINSLIE ON $4 MILLION OWED BY OTTAWA
And fewer people challenged tickets in court because of a fixed-fine system that prevents them from negotiating a reduced penalty.
One statistic that city staff cannot explain is that last year, 556 pay- ments were received for tickets issued in 1989. Staff were unable to say why so many 25-year-old fines were suddenly cleared, speculating that some were mandatory payments before old dormant licence plates could be reactivated.
The statistics do not include any changes that resulted from the crackdown on illegal parking launched by Mayor John Tory after he took office in December.
The committee also received a report stating that the federal government owes Toronto $4 million in payments in lieu of property taxes, and is among the city’s biggest holdouts.
After the meeting Councillor Paul Ainslie, the committee chair, urged Torontonians to lobby their MPs to get Ottawa to pay up or negotiate settlements.
“We could certainly use that money for housing, for transportation, any number of issues,” he told reporters. Committee member Councillor Janet Davis said she is tired of Toronto being “stiffed” by senior governments not paying their fair share of city costs. “Pay your taxes — everybody else has to.”