By Ellen Himelfarb
Toronto’s parking offenders who paid their fines on time are still paying because of a bug in a new computer system.
The new system at the Metro Treasury unit of Parking Tag Operations (PTO) has slapped the illegal parkers with an additional late fee.
The PTO system, installed in late January, is now programmed to print up a “Notice of Impending Conviction” on the seventh day after a parking ticket is issued if the driver has not paid the fine. The notice is sent out on the 15th day, informing the car owner of an additional surcharge.
Two thousand people who received parking tickets during the three week period between the time the new system was installed and the date it went into use were asked to pay fines they didn’t owe.
While the Treasury made adjustments and refinements to their new computer program, notices of late payment were being processed manually and sent out automatically. In the process, important infraction and payment information was overlooked.
More than 2.5 million parking tickets are issued each year, bringing in $48 million in municipal revenue. Of that amount, $23 million (48 per cent) is received on time. Fourteen per cent is received after the Treasury issues a notice to the driver.
Ron Kelusky, the manager of Parking Tag Operations, said that although tickets with a “voluntary fine amount” (fines that go up if they’re not paid within 7 days) offer the victim an incentive to pay the fine on time, they also create confusion for everyone involved. If mail or bank transactions are slow, payments made on time may arrive at the Treasury late. Meanwhile, notices are printed up and sent out before the error is recognized. “The new system,” says Kelusky, “will give a grace period to avoid this.”
“Joyce,” a PTO attendant, believes the new system was established “to enhance processing…But it’s a hassle to bear with. People complain all the time.”
“Some people are sent two or three notices even after they’ve paid their fine,” she adds. “Others receive notices telling them they owe no money at all.”
According to Kelusky, there was a “tremendous need” for the technological transition. “If we didn’t do the conversion, it wouldn’t have been pretty.”
Vivian Giorgetti, of PTO’s Information Inquiries, said “a fair amount of people” have called her with complaints about what she calls “a bug in the computer.” But she’s confident the system will be corrected soon. “This shouldn’t have happened. Something is definitely wrong,” she adds.
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