The city is doubling the cost of most parking violations to $20.
City councilors this week unanimously agreed to hike the fees charged for illegal parking by $10 for every violation except improper use of a handicapped spot, a charge that was reduced from $150 to $90 in the hope that police officers will hand out more tickets.
City Councilor Craig Minor, who heads the Ordinance Committee, said the change “simply increases the fines” to keep up with inflation.
The city hasn’t raised its parking fines in many years, officials said, and other towns nearby levy higher charges.
The problem with the existing $150 infraction for handicapped parking violations is that officers can’t just leave a ticket on the car, complicating the procedure for cracking down, police officials have said.
By lowering the fine and making it possible to leave a ticket, police aim to crack the whip more often on the parking scofflaws.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
6 comments:
Why are they called "fines"? I am hard-pressed to find anything fine about getting a ticket. And going from $10 to $20 "just to keep up with inflation" while lowering the parking fine for "improper use of a handicapped parking space" from $150 to $90 in hopes that the police will be able to write more tickets seems like contradictory reasoning. Following that logic, why not make all the parking violations $5, which might encourage more people to illegally park, raising overall revenue?
The kicker? I'll bet they commissioned a study of the parking ticket prices which cost the city $25,000.
Perhaps what the police should do is pay people $1 to park for the first hour, then fine them $20 for any time after that. Might be cheaper than parking meters.
Is there a fine for parking on the street during a parking ban, such as when there's bad weather? Is it only $20?
When I lived in Hartford, I had an apartment and had to park my car on the street. In the winter, if you didn't move the car, you'd get a ticket for about $100.
I've gotten parking violations for exceeding parking meter time that start at $15 or more, and double if not paid in a certain amount of time.
I am surprised that Bristol only charges $20.
If we get to keep our courthouse, we should put metered parking spaces on that part of Main Street. We could make decent money that way - most of the other municipalities around us do that. The best part about it is that the money in the meters is being paid by attorneys and accused criminals who go to the court, and its not like then can avoid going to that particular location.
Amazing....Hike the price to keep up with inflation? How about laying off the P.O's who are sitting in a parking lot talking on the phone or sitting at dunkin donuts drinking coffee? makes me sick
8:02 - thank goodness that even the nerds on this site don't require an explanation of your jibberish trash - grow uo, show us that you are over kindergarten age - or can, at least, compete with a 5 year old.
They should have increased it to at least $25. It's a good start though. Does anyone know what we do if they don't pay the fine? I know many towns have no procedure in place if these fines are not paid so many people don't pay them. And...if we do have a procedure to collect when they don't pay the ticket do they get charged additional fees/fines to cover the cost of collecting the fine?
Just remember everyone:
Grandma Jodi isn't interested in increasing your income tax, BUT:
Property taxes
Tuition and Fees
Bus Fares
parking fines
licensing fees
Those are all ok. Yes it's really a paradise in Jodi-land. Where up is down, black is white, and doing nothing can solve for everything.
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