The city is writing off almost $285,000 in parking fines, but that shouldn't offer hope to anyone hoping to get out of paying their tickets.
Brendan Adair, the city's manager of bylaw and security, told city councillors at their Tuesday meeting that even though the fines are being written off, they are still technically on the books.
Adair said the fines being written off are owed by people who will likely never pay – those who have stopped driving, who live in other jurisdictions and got the fine while passing through town, or who have passed away.
The city gets about $2.7 million a year in parking fines and other penalties under the Provincial Offences Act. But there's a backlog of about $18 million in unpaid fines, and from time-to-time that amount is updated by reducing amounts deemed uncollectable.
Unlike other fees and penalties, parking fines stay with an individual until they are paid, regardless of circumstances, including bankruptcy.
Some of the fines being written off now date back to 1988.
“In 2017, the Provincial Offences Office will undertake a larger more complex writeoff process to start to address the approximate $5.6 million worth of outstanding defaulted matters that were downloaded to the municipality at the time of transfer,” a staff report on the matter said.
“Once these older writeoffs have been completed, a regular cycle of writeoffs will be incorporated into the Provincial Offences Office annual routines.”
