Parking fines in Victoria are going up for the first time in 16 years as the city looks for new revenue to reduce this year’s property tax increase.
Starting on June 1, the parking fines in metered and time-limited zones will increase to $60 from $40 and fines in residential, no-stopping and commercial zones will rise to $80 from $60.
Fines will be halved for drivers who pay within 14 days.
Victoria council unanimously adopted bylaw amendments for the new fines. The changes, combined with a parking-rate increase in 90-minute zones, where drivers will pay $4 per hour instead of $3.50, are expected to generate about $1.7 million in additional revenue this year. That revenue allowed the city to reduce the property tax increase by about one per cent.
Susanne Thompson, the city’s director of finance, said most people pay their parking fines.
When drivers complain about the tickets they get, it’s usually because they didn’t realize they couldn’t park where they did.
“In those cases, we do a courtesy waiver for the first time it happens,” she said. “We try to be very accommodating. Our main purpose is to educate folks as to how and where they can park and what the rules are.”
Another problem that can generate tickets is drivers putting the wrong parking-space number on the parking app on their phones or curbside payment machines. In those cases, once payment has been verified, the city will cancel the ticket.
The top-five reasons for parking fines are: expired meters, staying too long in time-limited zones, parking in no-stopping zones, illegal parking in residential areas and parking in commercial loading zones.
There are a number of fines on the books for things that are rarely, if ever, ticketed.
For example, tampering with a charge station or inserting an improper object into a pay station can net a $350 fine.
There is a $150 fine for parking in a zone for people with disabilities, an $80 fine for parking in a bus zone or parking a non-electric vehicle in a charging spot, and a $60 fine for parking an electric car in a charging station and not charging.
Trying to squeeze an SUV into a compact parking spot can land the driver a $60 fine, while parking on a sidewalk means an $80 fine, and sleeping in a vehicle overnight can cost $60.
Thompson said the bylaw governing parking fines has been in place for a long time and some fine categories are out of date and are never used. Fines involving electric vehicles are newer; few tickets have been issued for misuse of an electric-vehicle charging spot. “But that might come,” she said.
As far as she knows, despite the average night in a Victoria hotel costing more than $200, no one has been ticketed for sleeping in their car overnight.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
