MANSFIELD – Drivers notorious for ignoring the little orange envelopes on their windshield signifying a parking violation in Mansfield should prepare for a heftier penalty in the near future.
Mansfield City Council unanimously passed the first reading of an update to the city’s codified ordinances regarding unpaid or default parking judgments. In a nutshell, the amended section would crack down on drivers who do not pay their parking violations in a timely manner.
“It’s an effort to generate more revenue and to tighten the ship,” said Law Director John Spon during Tuesday’s safety committee meeting.
“Some people don’t pay their parking tickets and let them accumulate, and because it’s hard to enforce those things without a collection agency, this way they accumulate and then at some point in time if an owner wants to register their vehicle, they’re going to be told they can’t do it unless they pay these fines.”
The proposed legislation reads that if three or more violations have been entered against a person and the person has not paid within 10 days of the third notice, the Mansfield Parking Violations Bureau may give notice of that fact to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles and prohibit the person from registering a motor vehicle.
All parking fees in the city of Mansfield are a $5 flat fee. A small additional “lookup fee” may be charged by the Mansfield Parking Violations Bureau when it is necessary to look up the address of an individual with a parking violation.
“This is not on one ticket, this is an accumulation of tickets,” explained councilwoman Garnetta Pender. “If you have an accumulation of three tickets, then apparently you didn’t plan on paying them. I could understand a person missing one ticket, but it’s that accumulation. You’re robbing the city of quite a bit of money.”
While the first reading of the legislation passed unanimously, not all members of council were in agreement on the method of penalizing drivers who ignore their parking violations. Councilman Walden Jefferson argued that even the initial $5 violation fee is steep for some in the community.
“I can see trying to generate some revenue but everybody out there driving is not always financially able, some people are struggling,” Jefferson said. “They may not want to break the law. Yes there are some people out there trying to do wrong things, but sometimes people are just late. We have to look out for the citizens.”
Others argued that in comparison to many areas, the $5 violation fee is quite inexpensive. Mayor Tim Theaker pointed out that during a recent trip to New York, he was fined $109 for one parking ticket.
“We don’t really realize how well we have it in Mansfield,” Theaker said. “This is a completely different area; it’s a deprived area, it’s a recession area. But I think that $5 isn’t really a pain.”
“Not only that, I think what you’re paying to put time on the meter is cheaper than a lot of places,” added Mansfield Council president Phil Scott. “People that get these tickets and chuck it in the car and never pay it, is that fair for the person who pays it right away? This makes everybody level.”
Safety Director Lori Cope also noted parking violations have been waived in the past should a person discuss their case with city administration. Jefferson was still not convinced.
“Why make a rule you’re just going to deviate from?” Jefferson asked. “My point being, everybody can’t afford that. Some people don’t have that five dollars.
“It may seem like a low number to you, but it’s not necessarily a low number to someone living on a fixed income,” he said. “To me it’s not that cut and dry.”
