If all Winnipeggers with parking tickets paid their fines, the city would have almost $7 million more to work with.
As of Dec. 31, 2017, the Winnipeg Parking Authority was waiting on $6,977,091 in outstanding fees from tickets.
The city issues about 500 tickets a day and has an early-bird payment rate which doubles if drivers fail to pay within 15 days.
Most offences cost $35, or $70 if paid after the 15 day window.
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Last week in Baltimore, city officials came up with a creative solution to get drivers to pay up on their overdue tickets.
They waived late payments for anyone who paid during a two-day amnesty period.
That effort raked in more than $2 million from online payments alone – and plenty of other people showed up to pay their tickets in person.
Winnipegger Rob Innis says it would make sense for the city to follow Baltimore’s lead.
“I think with a lot of the enforcement programs and stuff like that, it would be an interesting idea to actually think about an amnesty day – once a year, whether it’s parking tickets or any sort of bylaw infraction,” he said.
For Winnipeg to do the same, the idea would have to get the thumbs up at city council.
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