Amnesty for outstanding
parking tickets

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Fort Wayne's Clerk will propose a program that would strike a deal between the city and parking ticket deadbeats. It's an effort to wipe clean a decade's worth of outstanding violations.

On Tuesday night, Clerk Sandy Kennedy will propose a Parking Ticket Amnesty program to City Council. That would establish a short period of time where, if a violator chooses to pay an outstanding ticket, the City would waive any late payment or suspension penalties.

"If you have a parking ticket in your possession with a $5 meter and a $5 [late payment] penalty on it you are only going to pay $5," Kennedy said.

The Clerk hopes to track down more than 50,000 outstanding violations dating back to 1999.

If City Council puts the program into gear, the amnesty period will be set for January 20-30. However, if violators let time run out again, all penalties will be back in place.

"It's a law. That's what we're here to do. [The department] tries to enforce that law and to the best of our ability collect the funds for the city," Kennedy said.

If every outstanding debt is collected, they would total more than $900,000 for the city.

Many other cities, like Chicago and New York, have seen success with programs like these. Based on those examples, Kennedy said she expects to gather mostly violations from over the last year. That would still drive up $48,000 for the city.