Press Release Archives - 588-96 Fines for Parking Meters

Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 15, 1996

Release #588-96

Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958 or Dwight Williams (212) 788-2972

MAYOR GIULIANI AND SPEAKER VALLONE ANNOUNCE ROLLBACK OF FINES FOR PARKING METER INFRACTIONS EFFECTIVE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25th

Areas Affected Include Manhattan, North of the Center of 96th St., the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens

City Hall -- Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone today announced that effective Monday, November 25th the City will rollback fines on parking meter infractions north of the center of 96th Street in the borough of Manhattan, and in the boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens.

Expired parking meter fines, which currently stand at $45, which include the $40 fine and a $5 state surcharge, will revert back to $25 in time for the holiday shopping season. The increase in parking meter fines was implemented June 29, 1996 as part of a larger package of initiatives recommended by the New York City Departments of Transportation and Police to enhance both public safety and traffic mobility.

"After listening to complaints of many New Yorkers and consulting with retail business leaders and Speaker Peter Vallone, I asked the Department of Transportation and the Police Department to conduct a new study to assess whether the increase in expired parking meter fines had enhanced the objectives of the traffic mobility and public safety enforcement strategy over the past four and one half months," Mayor Giuliani said. "Because the Transportation Department and the Police Department determined that this particular fine increase was not critical to promoting the goals of the traffic enforcement program and was having a harmful effect on local businesses, we are rolling back the expired meter fine. This action will help stimulate shopping in many of our City's neighborhoods throughout the year and especially during this upcoming holiday season."

"The doubling of parking meter fines had simply become intolerable for shoppers and bad for business along commercial strips," Speaker Vallone said. "I am pleased that the Mayor has listened to the Council's concern, and agreed to roll back the increase. Neighborhood businesses and motorists will be far better off."

A study of the city's growing traffic mobility and safety problems led the Police and Transportation Departments to suggest that this enforcement effort would be further enhanced by the deterrent effect that imposing higher penalties for certain traffic related infractions would have on motorists. Based on these recommendations, the New York City Department of Finance promulgated rules this past Spring to increase fines on certain parking, stopping, and standing penalties within the $50 statutory cap established by state Vehicle and Traffic law. The new fine schedule went into effect June 29, 1996.

In order to implement the expired meter fine rollback, Mayor Giuliani announced that he has directed the New York City Department of Finance to promulgate new administrative rules to implement the new fine schedule retroactive to Monday, November 25, 1996. Because enforcement agencies would continue to issue notices of violation with the current fine schedule until new parking tickets could be printed and circulated, Mayor Giuliani has directed the Department of Finance Parking Violations Operations Division to re-program their computer system to reflect the lower fine schedule in effect as of midnight, Monday, November 25th. Parking Violations will issue automatic refunds to motorists who mistakenly make overpayments for tickets issued for expired meters on or after Monday, November 25th.