Sarasota To Offer Amnesty On Parking Ticket Late Fees

Hoping to recoup some revenue for the parking program, Sarasota's Parking Division will implement a parking fine late fee amnesty program for almost 23,000 unpaid parking tickets.

Sarasota is missing out in $701,799 in revenue from unpaid parking tickets, Parking Manager Mark Lyons said at Monday's City Commission meeting. That's from 22,916 tickets dating back from 2002 through 2011.

"Our idea is that we would offer a parking amnesty citation payment program that would waive the penalty for late citations," Lyons said. "And by doing so, would encourage people to come in and pay those fees." 

The program is expected to start about Aug. 1.

The idea to do this now is because Parking Division will implement a "more stringent" collection process starting Oct. 1 and would help people owing money for unpaid tickets to "clean their slate" before the program starts, Lyons said. 

The one-time amnesty program would run for two months and only apply to unpaid tickets more than 120 days old, Lyons said. A citation under appeal or in court will not be eligible.

Sarasota Unpaid Citations

2,377

 $30,017

3,393

Source: Sarasota Parking Division

Starting Oct. 1, the Parking Division would seek start a 90 day past-due collection policy where a collection agency would call to collect the fines.

The information would be shared with the Department of Motor Vehicles to prohibit people form renewing their tags or license until they pay the fines, Lyons said. 

Commissioner Shannon Snyder would like to see a sticker placed on a car notifying them of an unpaid fine using the Parking Division's license plate reader to identify drivers who haven't paid.

He said he wouldn't mind a "deadbeat list" published of folks who haven't paid their old parking fines starting Oct. 1 or provide a website where someone can check to see if they have an unpaid parking ticket.

"I have a feeling where as soon as you flagging the registration where they can't re-register, we'll get our money," Shannon said. "It may take two years because there are two-year tags, we'll get our money on a more regular basis."

At a certain point though, Lyons said, Parking Divisions will identify parking fines that are uncollectable and stop pursuing those.