By the end of March, there had been 226 parking tickets issued in Prince Albert. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Delinquent drivers

City of Prince Albert owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid parking tickets

May 2, 2019 | 5:01 PM

There are many things the cash strapped City of Prince Albert could do with a quarter of a million dollars.

According to recent numbers provided to paNOW by city hall, there are 11,722 outstanding parking tickets. Based on the minimum ticket fine of $20, this amounts to a minimum $234,000 in fines owed. The top five offenders are said to owe a combined total of $28,835. City Manager Jim Toye told paNOW it is concerning for him to see so much money owed to accounts receivable.

“We are working on a program where we are going to be much more, I would say, aggressive in the way we do our collections,” he said.

Toye explained the current process from the time a parking ticket is issued to the time a person appears in court can be lengthy, adding by then the amount owed is much more. He also explained many of the people who owe the city money are not actually from the city.

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“We do not at this particular time go out of our municipality [for collections] but we are going to give that some thought for sure,” Toye said.

As outlined on the City of Prince Albert website, the fine for a basic meter ticket is $20 (the fines for tickets related to parking in handicapped spaces and fire lanes are much higher), but can be as much as $75 if left unpaid after 30 days and court action is required. Kiley Bear, communications manager for the City of Prince Albert, told paNOW a vehicle owner then has 30 days after their conviction in court to pay their fine, and could also pay a $40 late fee.

“If the fine remains unpaid it will escalate into ‘enforcement required’ status and the Registered Owner risks having a vehicle towed to enforce payment,” she said.

In January 2016, the City of Prince Albert commenced the process of seizing vehicles for outstanding parking violations. Since January, there have been a total of 25 vehicles seized.

At the Board of Police Commissioners meeting March 25, a report revealed there have been 226 tickets issued to date this year, compared to 273 for the same time period last year. But when comparing the months of March, there was actually a 39 per cent increase this year (46) versus March of 2018 (33).

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell