A City of Gainesville plan to collect unpaid parking tickets may soon be driving more dollars to the city.
The tickets, which amount to $622,109, have accumulated since 2008, according to a city memo.
From 2013, about $57,000 worth of parking tickets are still unpaid, according to the memo. All unpaid tickets issued prior to 2008 will be written off.
Becky Rountree, city administrative services director, said the city is considering hiring a collection agency to take care of unpaid tickets, but it’s carefully considering what company to hire.
“Some [collection agencies] are very aggressive,” she said. “We’re trying to find a good balance that will take the work and have practices we are comfortable with.”
Part of the reason for the backlog of tickets is a breakdown in communication between the city and the Department of Motor Vehicles, Rountree said.
Both agencies received technology upgrades, but they were unable to share information, resulting in a halt in the ticket notification process, Rountree said.
Now that both systems are working together again, Rountree said, letters are being sent out to notify those who have unpaid parking tickets from the five-year period.
Typically, Rountree said, if a ticket is unpaid after 72 hours of being issued, the penalty rises. After a month, the city sends out a reminder.
For residents who have more than three unpaid tickets, the city has implemented a system that sends a notification to the DMV and blocks them from renewing vehicle tags until the fines are paid, Rountree said.
Collecting the tickets, Commissioner Thomas Hawkins said, is important because it can provide funds to create additional parking.
“It costs money to provide parking,” he said. “If you don’t pay to park, we’re going to ask you to pay your ticket.”
Brian Smith, a 38-year-old Gainesville resident and engineer, said although he thinks collection agencies could be a good solution to help the city get its money, he said he’s critical of some of the reasons the city issues parking tickets.
“I don’t have a problem with them turning it over to a collection agency,” he said. “People legitimately owe them money. What I do have a problem with is the ludicrous reasons for issuing parking tickets.”
Contact Hanna Marcus at hmarcus@alligator.org.
A University Police parking ticket rests on a car’s windshield Monday. The city of Gainesville is attempting to collect more than $600,000 in unpaid tickets to provide revenue that could fund additional parking areas.
