Parking fines for the city of Columbus have nearly doubled, effective this past Wednesday.
Violators of the two-hour parking limits will pay $10 instead of $6, as will those who park longer than 15 minutes in front of the downtown U.S. Post Office on Main Street.
Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John hopes the increased fines will discourage people from exhausting their parking time.
Many people wouldn”t think twice about paying a $6 fine, he said.
“We think $10 will have a little bit more effect on them, but at the same time, it”s not so much that it will discourage people from coming downtown,” said St. John.
When the city began its parking-fine amnesty program last month, it was owed more than $7,000 in outstanding parking fees. It was unknown this morning how much had been collected.
Columbus Municipal Court mailed about 160 notices to inform parking ticket offenders they could pay their outstanding tickets without court costs and contempt-of-court fines at Municipal Court through Oct. 6.
But Columbus police have delayed active pursuit and arrest of offenders who missed the Oct. 6 deadline. So offenders will have at least another week to pay their fines without fear of arrest.
Parking fines increase from $10 to $20 if the offender misses or does not pay the fine by his or her assigned court date.
Once an offender misses the court date, he or she has until Dec. 2 to voluntarily pay the parking fine, contempt-of-court fine of $396 and court costs without facing additional charges.
During a previous amnesty program for other outstanding Municipal Court fines, the city collected $438,160.44 in fines and served or recalled 479 arrest warrants for outstanding fines. Warrants are recalled when the wanted person turns himself or herself in to the police.
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