AUSTIN, Texas — If you’ve ever returned to your car to find a parking ticket, the city thanks you.
Figures provided to KVUE show Austin is bringing in millions of dollars in revenue, taking in between $2.3 million and $3.5 million for the city’s top five most frequently cited parking infringements alone in the past financial year.
The numbers show the Austin Transportation Department issued 107,946 citations to offending motorists for its top five violations. It issues around 150,000 tickets a year to keep parking spaces free around the city.
The most common notice was for not displaying a pay station receipt, while the second most frequent fine was issued for expired pay station receipts.
These were followed by the third most common parking violation, parking in a tow-away zone, which incurs a much higher fine. Parking in a resident-only zone and parking with an expired meter were the fourth and fifth most common violations, respectively.
Drivers have around 30 days to pay their fines or have a hearing to appeal the ticket. If left unpaid, it goes to collections.
But the Austin Transportation Department does not receive any dollars collected from the fines. All fees collected go to the City’s General Fund, attributed as collections from the court.