AGENDA #4e

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

SUBJECT:       Establishing Appeal and Late Penalty Procedures for Parking Tickets                                                                                       

DATE:             September 11, 2000

The attached ordinances would authorize the Town Manager to establish an administrative appeals procedure for parking tickets, establish a procedure for notification of parking violations, and modify the late penalty schedule.

Ordinance O-4 would authorize the Town Manager to create an appeals procedure and a notification procedure.  Ordinance O-5 would revise Section 21-38 of the Town Code to correspond to a new appeals procedure. 

BACKGROUND

During fiscal year 1999-00, the Town issued over 22,000 parking tickets and collected fines on 75% or about 17,000. The number of parking tickets appealed during this period was approximately 6,500.  The following describes the current steps used to accept and process parking ticket appeals, issue notices of parking violations and impose late penalties:

Appeals Procedure: The Town Code provides procedures for appeals from parking enforcement actions involving towing and wheel locks.  However, the Code does not establish a formal appeals procedure for parking tickets that are issued when no towing or wheel lock is involved.

Under the current procedure in use by the Transportation Department, a person receiving a parking ticket may file an appeal and have a ticket reviewed by an appeals officer within the Chapel Hill Police Department.  During the time an appeal is under consideration, late penalties established by the Code are not imposed.

There is presently no deadline for filing an appeal.  Transportation staff report that appeals are occasionally filed several months after a ticket has been issued, making it difficult to retrieve all the information pertaining to the ticket.  In some cases, appeals have been filed after a ticket has been turned over to a collection agency.

Notification of Parking Violation: According to the Code, persons are notified of a parking violation by a ticket left on the vehicle’s windshield.  Also, the Transportation Department notifies car owners of parking violations by mail.  The first notice is mailed 5-10 days after the violation, followed by a second notice 7-14 days later, and a final notice is sent 14 days after the second notice.

Late Penalties: The Town Code establishes fines for parking violations.  The Code also creates a late penalty schedule for unpaid parking fines.  After a ticket is issued a $5 penalty is added for every 15 days the ticket is unpaid.  Penalties accumulate to a $20 maximum in addition to the initial parking fine.  Unpaid parking fines are generally assigned to a collection agency when a particular vehicle has accumulated four or more unpaid parking tickets. 

DISCUSSION

To create a more efficient and fairer system of collecting parking penalties, we believe that certain changes should be made to the current system.

1. Appeals Procedure

The administrative appeals procedure currently used by Transportation would remain largely the same under the proposed ordinance.  The only change would be the creation of a deadline for appealing tickets of 21 days from the date of the ticket.  This deadline would allow enough time for a notification of a parking violation to be mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner and would establish a clear time limit  

2. Notification of Parking Violation

The proposed ordinance would authorize the Manager to establish a new schedule of notification to vehicle owners that corresponds to the new schedule of late penalties, as follows:

·        Initial notification would be the placement of the parking ticket on the vehicle. 

·        The first mailed notice would be sent within 10 days after the violation.  The notice would contain the fine total and the procedure, including deadlines,  for appealing the ticket. 

·        The second notice would be sent 21 days after the violation.  This notice would inform the violator of the fine, additional penalties, and that the 21-day deadline on appeals has passed. 

·        The third and final notice would be sent 35 days (five weeks) after the violation.  This notice would include the amount of the fine, additional penalties, and a warning that on the 49th day (seven weeks) after the violation, the ticket would be handed over to a collection agency.

If a ticket is appealed and the account is frozen, no notices would be sent.  If the appeal is denied and the account is unfrozen, then the notices would resume on the same schedule as the application of late penalties.

3. Late Penalties

To try to ensure that a person does not incur a late penalty prior to the deadline for ticket appeals, we recommend that the first late penalty not be imposed until 21 days after the violation is cited.

In the interest of simplifying the administration of late penalties, we recommend the following changes to the current ordinance.  The second late penalty would be applied 35 days (five weeks) after the violation was cited instead of the current 30 days.  On the 49th day (seven weeks) after the violation the ticket would be handed over to a collection agency.  Currently, third notices stating the matter may be turned over to a collection agency are mailed 40 days after the violation

The late penalty schedule would be frozen during an appeal.  The schedule would resume if the appeal is denied, and the next expected penalty would be administered ten days after the appeal decision.  This application of penalties after the appeals process  would be unchanged from the procedure currently in place.

 

Along with reducing the number of penalties administered, we recommend that each penalty amount that is attached be increased from $5 to $10.  The maximum cumulative penalty that is applied in addition to the original parking fine would remain at $20.

RECOMMENDATION

That the Council adopt the attached ordinance (O-4) authorizing the Manager to establish a parking appeals procedure and a parking violation notification and the attached ordinance (O-5) revising Section 21-38 of the Town Code to correspond to the new appeals procedure.

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE 21 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES TO AUTHORIZE AN ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS PROCEDURE FOR VIOLATION OF TOWN PARKING REGULATIONS (2000-09-11/O-4)

Section 1.  Article V, Chapter 21 of the Town Code is hereby amended by adding a new section 21-40 to read as follows:

“Section 21-40. Administrative Appeals.

The Town Manager is hereby authorized:

(a) to establish a procedure to allow persons who receive citations for violation of Town parking regulations to file administrative appeals;

(b) to set deadlines for the filing of such appeals.

Any such procedure shall allow a minimum of 21 days to file an appeal from the date of the parking citation and shall provide for a written notice that outlines the fines and the appeal deadline to be mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle within 10 days of the parking citation.”

Section 2.  This ordinance shall be effective upon adoption.

This the 11th day of September, 2000.

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 21-38 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES ON PARKING VIOLATIONS (2000-09-11/0-5)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill as follows:

Section 1.  Section 21-38 Civil Penalties, Paragraph (e) is hereby revised to read as follows:

Section 21-38.  Civil Penalties.

(e) Any penalty for a parking violation that is not paid within fifteen (15) days twenty-one (21) days of issuance will accrue an additional penalty of five dollars ($5.00) ten dollars ($10.00) per fifteen (15) days fourteen (14) days it remains unpaid.”

 

Section 2.  This ordinance shall be effective upon adoption.

This the 11th day of September, 2000.