Anyone with a Covington parking citation that has doubled due to nonpayment will soon be given some breathing room thanks to an amnesty program approved Tuesday.
Once a parking ticket in Covington has gone unpaid for 14 days, the fine doubles.
The Covington city commission approved the program Tuesday, which will bring fines back to their original amount if they are paid during the month of June.
The program does not include costs for towing, handling and storage.
ABM Parking Services, which manages parking in Covington, will begin booting and towing cars that have two or more unpaid tickets after the program concludes on July 1.
The program will help to generate revenue as a reset coming out of COVID, said Kyle Snyder, executive director of the Covington Motor Vehicle Parking Authority.
“There are 10,000 or more parking citations that are unpaid within the city,” Snyder said during last week’s board meeting. “That’s totaling over $300,000. Almost all of them have been doubled because they have not been paid for over two weeks.”
A typical parking ticket in Covington is $30. If the ticket remains unpaid after 14 days, the fine doubles to $60.
ABM stopped booting and towing cars during the pandemic, which is contributing to the citation backlog. Snyder said the Covington Police Department has been booting and towing cars, but generally only when a complaint arises.
“Research has shown in other municipalities that 30 to 50 percent of people do take advantage of that,” Snyder said.
A 30 percent payment rate would bring in $99,330 for Covington, Snyder said, while a 50 percent payment rate would bring in $165,500.
“This is a great idea and it’s an approach that I think is incredibly important,” Commissioner Tim Downing said.
The City of Covington will be mailing letters to parking citation recipients to inform them of the impending amnesty period, as well as reminding them they have an outstanding parking fine. The Covington Communications Department will be putting up more information on the city website to inform residents of the amnesty program and its details.
