City seeks increased reach in collecting outstanding bylaw fines

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This article was published 04/10/2023 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeggers with unpaid parking tickets could soon be hit with new penalties, ranging from a rejected driver’s licence renewal to charges on their property tax bill to immediately being towed the next time they park illegally.

As the city awaits payment on $12-million worth of outstanding bylaw tickets, including $8 million from parking offences alone, the new measures could also be extended to other bylaw infractions in the future, as it attempts to beef up options to collect on the debts.

According to the Winnipeg Parking Authority, more options are needed to ensure fines are paid on time.

“Our position is that it’s actually making things more fair for the vast majority of people who do pay their fines in full and on time,” said Dan Locke, a policy analyst with the WPA.

If council approves, the City of Winnipeg will ask the provincial government to let the registrar of motor vehicles refuse to issue or renew driver’s licences and/or vehicle registrations for individuals with outstanding fines, as well as refuse to accept insurance premiums from vehicle owners with outstanding fines, even if that refusal results in insurance being cancelled.

That would apply to both penalties listed under the Municipal Bylaw Enforcement Act and Provincial Offences Act, which would also make it possible to extend them to non-parking municipal offences.

“It would allow us to use it for anything that’s prosecuted under the municipal bylaw enforcement act, so that does include (parking offences) but (also) a range of property-related offences like grass (getting) too long, noxious weeds on a property, garbage on a property, certain building code offences,” said Locke.

In practice, however, he noted the city expects vehicle-related penalties would be tied to parking offences, at least “as a starting point,” though that could be expanded in the future.

“It doesn’t mean that we’d apply it to every (offence), but it would be open for use for more than just parking,” said Locke.

City officials also want the province to allow all of the fines to be added to property tax bills — though the WPA expects offences related to a property would most likely be collected that way, should a policy be approved to implement the new penalties.

“We’d work with the province to determine which are appropriate to be added to a property tax bill… The authority we’re suggesting would be fairly broad, but in practice we would try to keep related offences tied to specific debt-collection measures,” said Locke.

Meanwhile, the parking authority has decided to independently add its own separate penalty to crack down on unpaid parking tickets.

Once that change is in place, officers will immediately tow and impound an illegally parked vehicle if they determine the owner has three or more previous unpaid parking tickets. It would then be held until the cost of the tow and related fees are paid. The actual outstanding fines would not need to be paid before the vehicle is returned to its owner.

The new towing policy falls within the existing authority of the WPA and will take effect in January, said Locke.

The other changes would require the approval of both the municipal and provincial governments.

While the city can currently seize and sell the property of people with outstanding fines, such as vehicles linked to parking offences, and even file court documents to garnish a debtor’s income, a staff report says that system is difficult to use.

“This is a labour-intensive process with a significant cost to the city,” the report notes.

Coun. Janice Lukes, head of council’s public works committee, said she thinks the proposed new penalties are “absolutely” needed to crackdown on fine repayment.

“It’s $12 million sitting there… We have to look in every corner and every way possible to become more efficient as a city because of limited resources,” said Lukes.

The city says about 77 per cent of all fines charged were collected in 2021, followed by 79 per cent in 2022.

Lukes said court processes available to the city to use now can be “massively time consuming,” so the new measures would offer a better alternative.

“The longer you leave a bill, the harder it is to collect,” she said.

Council is expected to vote on the measures that require government approval Oct. 26.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga