Some vehicle owners who get parking tickets in Mississauga might soon be hit with an additional charge to cover costs associated with the city’s new way of delivering penalty notices.
The mailing of tickets to registered owners of illegally parked cars is among several changes to City of Mississauga parking enforcement rules that will take effect Oct. 1.
Parking tickets will still be left on vehicle windshields, but in cases where doing so could be dangerous or otherwise difficult for bylaw enforcement officers, the option will now be there to record the licence plate and the municipality will then send an infraction notice to the vehicle owner by mail.
To cover costs associated with sending tickets by mail, senior city staff are proposing a $10 mail-out fee to be paid by those who receive such parking infraction notices.
The proposal, included in a report from community services commissioner Raj Sheth, will be discussed by city councillors next Wednesday at general committee.
“Serving a penalty notice by mail requires additional administrative steps to prepare, quality-check, process, print and mail the notice,” Sheth noted in his report. “Staff, therefore, recommend introducing a mail-out fee of $10 to recover the associated costs. The fee will apply only when a penalty notice is served by mail.”
Revenue from the fee “is expected to offset the costs incurred by the city in administering the mail-out process,” he added.
The report concluded that parking tickets “will continue to be affixed directly to vehicles wherever it is safe and reasonably practicable to do so. Mail service will provide an alternative in circumstances where direct service is not safe or reasonably practicable.”
Situations where placing a parking ticket onto a vehicle windshield may not be the best option include when a car is illegally stopped or parked in a school zone “where vehicles frequently depart before a notice can be safely affixed, potentially creating risks for officers, pedestrians and other road users,” Sheth explained in the report.
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Under the new rules to be rolled out this fall, those who get parking tickets are also going to have more time to pay up, or challenge the fines. They’ll have 30 days, double the current 15-day period, to pay the fine or request a review of the matter.
The city said the changes, approved by council in June, are part of an effort to modernize parking enforcement, improve compliance with parking regulations and enhance service delivery efficiency.
“These changes are meant to make parking enforcement safer, more efficient and fairer for vehicle owners while giving people more time to receive, review and respond to a penalty notice,” city officials said earlier, adding existing parking rules and fine amounts are not changing as part of the update.
(Cover photo: City of Mississauga)
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