By Gus G. Sentementes , gus.sentementes@baltsun.com|April 20, 2009
A recent push by a city-hired collections agency to haul in roughly $132 million in overdue parking tickets has sparked complaints from some who say the fines - averaging $721 - are excessive.
The agency, Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, has collected $11.6 million for Baltimore in fines and late penalties from parking scofflaws since late 2006. In its latest collections effort, which started in February, the Texas-based agency sent out 80,000 notices to people with long-unpaid tickets.
But some argue that the city is trying to raise revenue in a dire economy on the backs of people who have seen minor parking tickets - some as low as $21 - swell to hundreds of dollars because the city adds monthly late penalties until the fine is paid.
Jason Howard, a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University, launched a Facebook group and a blog to protest what he and others believe is an unfair practice of assessing $16 monthly late fees for parking tickets, in perpetuity, until the ticket and fines are paid.
"How can we be expected to pay into a system that's inherently flawed?" said Howard, who acknowledges getting a ticket three years ago but says he can't recall whether he paid it. Howard says he never got the city's late payment notices until he was shocked by the $603 collection notice he received in February.
He thinks the city could be doing a more diligent job of notifying people before the fines escalate into the hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.
"If the fines can go as high they want, it's in their best interest to let them sit," said Howard.
Seeking to tap the outstanding fines as a revenue source, the city has been referring parking fines that are six months overdue to Linebarger. As of mid-March, the outstanding city parking tickets totaled about 459,000 - with fines amounting to about $181 million, according to city officials.
Scott Peterson, a City Hall spokesman, said the city sent several notices to people who owed fines that were more than six months overdue and who are now part of Linebarger's collections effort. He said that if people feel they do not owe the fines, they can request a District Court hearing.
"That's the legal process that's in place," Peterson said.
Phillipa Bowers, an official who works Linebarger's Baltimore office, declined to comment and referred questions to the city's Bureau of Revenue Collections.
