Want to trim parking ticket fines? Pay early
A year after promising to reduce parking ticket fines in Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington officials have crafted a plan to offer reduced ticket costs for those who pay the violation early.
John Rago, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki’s deputy chief of staff, said Friday that the new proposal will reduce parking tickets to $25 for those who pay within 14 days of receiving the ticket, reducing the financial burden of the change to about $185,000.
“This is a good compromise and we anticipate that those who receive a parking citation will take advantage of the lower $25 cost by paying within the 14-day period,” Rago said in an emailed statement.
City officials for years have resisted reducing parking ticket costs over fear that it would negatively impact Wilmington’s financial outlook since it relies on the revenue to fund basic city functions.
Rago said Wilmington originally estimated a “nearly $1 million” loss in revenue with reducing parking ticket costs, but the latest plan reduces that financial burden to about $185,000.
The proposal has yet to be presented to the City Council, but the news of reducing parking ticket costs comes amid the legislative body gearing up to debate increasing penalties to $1,000 for people who interfere, resist or hinder parking enforcement officers from doing their jobs.
Parking enforcement officer harassment
Councilperson Zanthia Oliver, who is sponsoring the ordinance to increase the penalty associated with interfering with parking enforcement officers’ work, said she recently learned of two incidents where officers were harassed by people receiving tickets.
Oliver said in one incident, an officer was punched in the head, and in another, an officer was chased by someone with a gun.
“I don’t think we should take that lightly,” Oliver said. “It’s about safety for the parking enforcement officers. I put it in because I feel as though the (parking enforcement officers) should be treated like police officers, really.”
Rago said the city couldn’t substantiate the allegations Oliver mentioned.
“There are occasions when our parking enforcement officers are harassed as they perform their duties, but we have no information to substantiate these particular claims,” he said. “As for the council member’s legislation, we would have to review it before we can offer an opinion regarding its merits.”
Parking ticket costs
Efforts to get Wilmington to reduce parking ticket costs have been years in the making.
AAA Mid-Atlantic, a driver advocacy group, in 2019 recommended the city reduce its parking ticket costs, having found that Wilmington’s parking tickets were more expensive than larger surrounding cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Purzycki initially announced plans to reduce parking ticket costs in October 2022, just over a year after the city was slapped with a federal lawsuit over its parking enforcement, towing and impoundment practices.
The Wilmington mayor reiterated those plans earlier this year while outlining new revenue streams the city hoped to implement – including a $1 ticket tax on events and an increase in the hotel tax, both of which were abandoned.
Councilperson Maria Cabrera, who sponsored the parking ticket cost adjustment legislation, said it was a “painstaking” process trying to finetune the ordinance to provide relief for city residents while ensuring Wilmington’s budget wasn’t severely hit.
“I firmly believe, and the mayor agrees with me, that $40 is just too high for a city of this poverty level,” she said. “The people that it hurts is not the people in the most affluent neighborhoods or visitors. It’s the people who live adjacent to downtown in the poorest neighborhoods.”
Hikes to various business fees, part of a citywide review to bring the costs more in line with surrounding communities, will take effect in 2024. Those increases are expected to bring in roughly $1.6 million in new revenue, city officials said.
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