Last Night at the Common Council: Part 3

A late addition to the agenda for last night's Common Council meeting was a law, proposed by Mayor Kamal Johnson, granting amnesty to people with unpaid parking tickets. The law's stated intent is to "promote payment of outstanding penalties imposed for a traffic infraction constituting parking, standing or stopping violations issued within the City of Hudson," but what the law waives are the penalties that accrue if a parking ticket is not paid within thirty days of its being issued. The original fine would still need to be paid. The following is quoted from the proposed law:

There is hereby enacted for the City of Hudson a parking violations amnesty program whereby the City of Hudson Parking Ticket Bureau, with the approval of the City Attorney, may cancel, in whole or in part, any penalties imposed for a traffic infraction constituting parking, standing or stopping violations issued within the City of Hudson as hereinafter set forth and accept payment of the face value of the ticket in full satisfaction of said ticket.

Explaining the proposed amnesty program, Johnson called it "a grace period of 60 to 90 days" for people to pay their original tickets and none of the additional penalties. The text of the proposed law provides more specificity:

The parking violations amnesty program shall only apply to such violations issued on or before January 1, 2020, and shall be effective for a period commencing October 1, 2023, and ending December 31, 2023. Amnesty for such tickets shall only be available to individuals prior to an immobilization device being placed on said individual's vehicle and/or prior to said individual's vehicle being towed pursuant to Article IV or V of the Hudson City Code. 

The law, if enacted, would only apply to tickets that have gone unpaid for more than three years, and to people whose cars have not yet been booted. The boot is a penalty reserved for people with three or more parking tickets that have gone unpaid for more than 45 days.

Here is the current law regarding penalties for unpaid parking tickets, quoted from the City of Hudson code, Article IX, § 305-43, F, G, H:

Failure of the vehicle owner to pay or schedule a court appearance within 30 days of the receipt of a parking ticket . . . will be deemed a plea of guilty and result in the fine doubling and the addition of a surcharge of $25. Failure to play within 45 days of the issuance of the ticket shall result in the filing of a criminal summons and/or issuance of an arrest warrant and the imposition of a second surcharge of $25 for each violation . . . included in such judicial summons or arrest warrant.

Any motor vehicle which has three or more tickets  . . . outstanding in excess of 45 days may have installed upon it a boot or other security device prohibiting the use of the motor vehicle. In addition to the outstanding tickets, the car owner shall pay a boot removal fee in a sum set by the Common Council. Any individual who tampers with or removes a boot on a vehicle without authorization of the City will be guilty of a violation and subject to a fine or not more than $250 or 15 days in jail.

Any motor vehicle which has five or more tickets . . . outstanding in excess of 90 days may be impounded by the City Police Department.

According to the city code, a $15 fine for leaving your car parked overnight on the wrong side of the street becomes a fine of $80 if left unpaid for 45 days.

 

Councilmember Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) commented that there is no incentive to pay your parking tickets in a timely manner if you know there's going to be an amnesty. Merante also wanted to know if the amnesty was only for Hudson residents or for everyone. Johnson indicated the amnesty was only for Hudson residents and described it was "a way to give back to the community."

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