NEWS RELEASE: Parking fines will be reduced from $40 to $25 if paid within 14 days.
Monday, December 18, 2023
Wilmington City Council Approves Ordinance to Reduce Parking Fines for Early Payments
Parking fines will be reduced from $40 to $25 if paid within 14 days.
Wilmington, DE – During Wilmington City Council’s regular meeting on Thursday, December 14, 2023, an ordinance was passed that reduces parking fines for early payments.
Substitute 1 to Ordinance 23-022 (0301, Rev. 1), which can be read here, amends Chapter 37 of the City Code to reduce the civil penalties for certain parking violations from $40 to $25 if the violation is paid within 14 days of issuance, eliminates the discount for early payment of civil penalties for certain parking and motor vehicle violations, and extends the deadline to protest citations from twenty (20) to twenty-one (21) days. The fiscal impact of the legislation will result in a reduction of $150,000 per year.
Wilmington City Council unanimously approved the ordinance with At-Large Councilwoman Maria D. Cabrera as its main sponsor.
“It took a lot of work, research, and common sense negotiations, to get to this point. I am very thankful to the administration for their willingness to come up with a solution for something that both Mayor Mike Purzycki and I believed to be the right thing,” said Councilwoman Cabrera. “Since my first term on council, I firmly believe that $40 parking tickets were cost prohibitive for many of our residents in some of our most economically challenged neighborhoods. I believe that if the tickets were $25 we would get more compliance. In addition, I felt it was a deterrent for people coming to Wilmington to patronize our establishments. They told me so themselves.”
Councilwoman Cabrera adds that community groups and individuals have also been working on parking reform and that they have been very supportive of the process.
“I’d like to thank my Council colleagues who also pushed for this initiative and cosponsored the legislation, the administration, and the Finance Director, Brett Taylor, for coming up with a compromise solution when it was looking bleak,” said Councilwoman Cabrera. “It was a true example of working together and negotiating to do the right thing.”
The change is the latest in a series of improvements Wilmington has made to its parking enforcement practices over the past year. The new ordinance will come into effect on January 1, 2024.
“This is just one step of the overall parking reform that the administration has and is working on,” said Councilwoman Cabrera. “I was happy to lead the efforts on this particular initiative, having worked on this since my first term on Council. We were not able to lower the parking tickets then, but we did legislate a seven-year statue of limitation in 2016. Now, I urge all residents. If you do get a parking ticket, please pay within the 14 days.”
###
MEDIA INQUIRIES:Yesenia TaverasDirector of Communications, Wilmington City CouncilOffice: (302)576-2585Email: ytaveras@wilmingtonde.govCity Council Website: www.wilmingtoncitycouncil.com