Pay parking tickets minus the extra fines
By Myrriah Gosset
Next month, Savannah will be offering amnesty to parking violators. According to Brett Bell, information officer for the City of Savannah, the program runs from Jan. 12 through Feb. 12.
This is a chance for the public, including SCAD students, to pay for any sort of parking violation, Bell explained. This includes meters, yellow zones, fire lanes, street sweepers and even red light cameras.
This chance does not come very often for parking violators. “We do this sort of thing about once a decade. Last time was back in 1999,” said Bell.
The last time the amnesty was put into place the city gained almost $500,000 and had over 4,000 participants.
Sean Brandon, Parking Services Director, said this is a great opportunity for students as they will “save almost 60-80 percent on their parking tickets,” Brandon said.
“It’s never going to be cheaper than this period,” said Brandon. Parking enforcement will also not being booting any cars during this month as well.
With over 18,000 accounts open in parking services of unpaid tickets, parking services is looking to bring down that number significantly before they switch over software systems. The number of accounts, however, does not include people with multiple tickets or multiple cars.
“We are looking at it as a chance for everyone to have a fresh parking start downtown. For some reason people don’t take care of parking tickets, and once it gets to a certain level people don’t want to take care of it. New year, fresh start,” said Bell.
This opportunity will, for some, wipe out almost three quarters of a bill and make it much more affordable.
Some people accumulate fees of up to $250, and after four tickets drivers are put onto the boot list, explained Bell.
Parking tickets can be paid either by phone or at the Parking Services office at 100 E. Bryan St. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bills cannot be paid online with the amnesty as the computer system cannot differentiate between fines and late fees.
