Fort Worth City Hall on Nov. 14, 2024.
Amanda McCoy
amccoy@star-telegram.com
Fort Worth drivers who get a parking citation or a boot on their car could see increased costs. Here’s what we know:
The Fort Worth City Council at its meeting on Aug. 11 is set to review a proposal from Fort Worth’s Municipal Court Department to increase the cost of parking citations and parking boot fees.
New parking citation fees
Parking citations would increase by $10 total due to two new Special Revenue Fund projects.
There will be a $5 Civil Services Fee, which will go toward court security personnel and security services, equipment, and “building security-related items for Municipal Court facilities,” according to an informal report that will be presented to council members on Aug. 4.
There will also be a Civil Technology Fee, which will go toward “financing or maintaining technological enhancements for the Municipal Court.”
You can review the proposed fine schedule in the agenda for Tuesday’s work session online.
Vehicle boots
Additionally, if your car gets booted after three unpaid parking citations, that cost will increase from $50 to $75 — a number that has not changed since 1988, according to municipal court director William Rumuly.
The increase, Rumuly said, is due to the increased cost of validating and booting the vehicle in the first place.
Online citation appeals
Fort Worth drivers have had 21 days to contest parking citations online since 2020, due to a COVID-era extension. However, that deadline has not been codified. Along with the cost increases, the city would formally adopt that 21-day deadline on Aug. 11.
The city would also remove a non-refundable $10 fee that drivers have had to pay to appeal their civil parking cases. This removal is to align with Fort Worth’s Municipal Court criminal case appeals, which stopped charging appeal fees in 2020 due to the passage of SB 346.
When will I see these changes?
If the council approves the proposals in August, after the city formally adopts a new budget in September, the new fines would be effective Oct. 1, Rumuly said.
The removal of the $10 fee would be applicable immediately if passed on Aug. 11.
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Emily Holshouser is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.