Some current and former Central New York motorists are receiving notices in the mail for unpaid Syracuse parking tickets they might have ignored or forgotten about…some dating back to the late 1990’s. The city has sent out 110,000 notices to those with outstanding violations as part of a three week amnesty programwhere late fees are waived.
First Deputy Finance Commissioner Martha Maywalt told common councilors that the notices include varying amounts of information depending on the number of tickets.
"Some people have one ticket outstanding. Some people have multiple tickets on multiple [license] plates. We took a hybrid approach and consolidated the notices by plate, so you didn't get the ticket detail."
That detail is now on the city’s website, and includes the make, color, type of vehicle, and location of the violation to help jog people’s memories. So far, she says two thousand people have already paid up just one day into the program. But some councilors have received complaints from residents questioning the accuracy of the information or sending notices to deceased violators. Councilor Tim Rudd says the data seem reliable.
"My mom who passed away on 2013 has a ticket from November 2003 on Walnut Ave, which was the fall of my senior year at SU. It was the car I was borrowing, so I'm pretty sure I got that $10 ticket."
Chief administrative officer Frank Caliva says they did not remove deceased violators.
"In fact, I paid two tickets for my deceased mother yesterday morning. We would have no way of knowing who's deceased and who's not."
He says the city hopes to recoup as much as $1 million from the unpaid fines before taking the next step.
"That's the low hanging fruit as it were. Once the amnesty is over, we'll send the entire debt, including the accumulated penalties out for collection."
"Just to be optimistic, you may not have to, right?" asked Council President Helen Hudson, hoping that most of the outstanding tickets would be paid during the amnesty period.
"If we were really fortunate, that would be correct," Caliva replied.
Councilors could vote Monday to approve a pilot program with a collection agency to pursue remaining debt from unpaid tickets and defaulted payment plans.
