The City of Windsor handed out 67,000 parking tickets in 2019, but nearly a quarter of those remain unpaid.
Coordinator of Parking Services Bill Kralovensky said 15,400 parking tickets, or 23 per cent of the fines handed out last year, have not been paid as of Friday.
Kralovensky said they’ve seen a steady decline in the number of parking tickets issued over the past 10 years, and while the numbers for 2019 were steady, he added that the volume of unpaid tickets is actually down a few percentage points compared to 2018.
He believes a big factor for the decrease is having Service Ontario collect the outstanding fines as part of its conditions for licence plate renewal.
"When we switched out of the Provincial Offences Act into administrative penalty resources, the timelines dropped, so the penalties and late fees that accrued really hit the pocket then," he said.
Kralovensky said if a ticket is not paid within 31 days, another 31 day reminder is issued before the ticket is sent to the Ministry of Transportation.
“Which means you can't get your renewal sticker until your debt to the City of Windsor is cleared up," he said.
Increased compliance and the city's new parking app are also getting credit for the improved figures.
The “Pay for Parking App,” which launched in 2017, allows drivers to use their smartphone to pay for parking at street meters and city-run parking lots. The app also sends out a 15-minute reminder before your time runs out at the meter.
Overall, Kralovensky said they're very excited by the numbers because people are paying their bills.
An exact dollar figure on how much parking revenue was generated for the city in 2019, or how much money remains owing in unpaid parking tickets, is unavailable at this time.
Kralovensky said he’s currently putting those figures together as part of a year-end report that will be delivered to city council in the coming weeks.