Why an Ohio lawmaker is fighting the parking ticket 'gotcha' games cities play

Are your local governments using you as an ATM?

That’s the question at the heart of a law being proposed in Ohio to stop cities from gouging people who get parking tickets, a law that received a salute Wednesday from the hosts of Today in Ohio.

State Rep. Darnell Brewer, a Democrat, has introduced a bill that would change how cities can collect late fees on parking violations—a proposal born from personal experience. Courtney Astolfi said Brewer himself fell victim to the problem he’s trying to solve.

 “He gave an example of where he got a parking ticket. It was $25. There were late fees and added things tacked on that amounted to 35. So he was paying more than double the cost of the original ticket," Astolfi said.

 The proposed legislation would limit late fees and administrative costs to no more than the cost of the original ticket. It would also standardize the grace period statewide, giving drivers at least 30 days to deal with a ticket instead of the current minimum of 15 days.

 Chris Quinn said cities should not have been so abusive as to make such a lw needed.

 “The shame of this is that we need a law like this, that cities are doing things that basically gouge people. We’ve talked earlier with regard to the traffic cameras that are showing up everywhere in secret places just to do gotchas at the bottom of hills like we see out on the east side. This is the same kind of thing.”

 Quinn’ said parking fines are supposed to reinforce the need for people to pay and to bring churn to parking spaces, not create a new revenue source.

 “Government’s not supposed to do that,” Quinn said. ”They have taxes to run government. They shouldn’t be using gotcha speed cameras to do it. They shouldn’t be using gotcha fees to tack on."

 The timing of this bill couldn’t be more relevant for Cleveland residents. Astolfi said Cleveland is raising parking rates and expanding the hours when people have to pay. She wondered whether Cleveland built in the “gotcha” late fees in its revenue expactations and now might have to go back and recalculate.

 “If this does get momentum, how this would change Cleveland’s math?” she asked.

 The proposed bill hasn’t been assigned a number yet, but Brewer claims there is bipartisan interest. If passed, it could force cities across Ohio, including Cleveland, to adjust their budgetary expectations—and potentially provide relief to drivers who find themselves facing ballooning parking fines.