Edmonton councillors recommend lowering seasonal parking ban fine, reinstating towing
Council committee suggests spending about $100K to tow vehicles
Edmontonians who fail to follow seasonal parking bans could face lower ticket fines in the future, but run the risk of having their vehicles towed.
Council's community and public services committee discussed a range of enforcement options at a meeting on Monday, ultimately favouring a middle-of-the-road approach that would bring back towing during winter parking bans but reduce the parking ban violation fine from $250 to $150.
The city hiked the fine from $100 to $250 in 2022 as it also increased enforcement efforts, temporarily towing vehicles and hiring more staff.
"I think that was a little bit too much, too fast," Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford said during the meeting.
A recent city report said enforcement officers handed out about 1,000 parking ban violation tickets last spring, after not enforcing during the spring sweep for a decade.
Contracted officers issued nearly 6,000 tickets this spring, the same report said.
WATCH | Council considers new enforcement system:
Rutherford said seniors and refugees in her ward have complained about the fines, saying they weren't aware of the parking bans and their low-income households faced $500 in fines.
City administration's recent scan of how other cities enforce parking bans revealed Edmonton's fine is higher than those in Calgary, Fort McMurray, Winnipeg, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax but all of those cities have vehicles towed while Edmonton doesn't.
"There are a lot of cities that have managed to do this more, to allow their crews to more readily clear the streets in a more timely fashion," said Ward Nakota Isga Coun. Andrew Knack.
Edmonton funded towing during the 2022-2023 season, removing 10 percent of ticketed vehicles, but the city report said towing comes with challenges, including labour shortages and equipment failures.
The city report recommended four options, ranging from spending no more money to allocating between $100,000 and $1.5 million for more enforcement.
The report said each approach has benefits and drawbacks and that according to public engagement on the topic, residents want stricter enforcement alongside better warning signs.
Knack said the option with the highest price tag, which would keep contracted enforcement officers working and pay for towing, would be ideal.
He said he also supports spending a smaller amount but there is more work to do in the future.
Multiple councillors asked whether having steeper fines and more enforcement actually works.
City officials said higher fines generally deter people and fewer residents have been calling 311 about parking ban tickets this spring. Compliance is difficult to measure, however, because enforcement officers can't cover the entire city.
Comparing numbers from year to year can also be challenging because of policy changes and differing amounts of snowfall from year to year, the officials said.
Councillors also heard that when Edmontonians pay tickets online, the city keeps the full fine amount and can track the data, but when they dispute tickets through court, the city gets only a portion of fine revenue and doesn't learn how many tickets get reduced or dismissed.
"I actually suspect that even though we're giving more tickets, our revenue actually isn't increasing that substantially," Rutherford told reporters on Monday.
She and the three other councillors on the committee, Ward Métis Coun. Ashley Salvador, Ward sipiwiyiniwak Coun. Sarah Hamilton and Ward O-day'min Coun. Anne Stevenson, voted unanimously to recommend that council spend about $100,000 on towing.
If council pursues that plan, the parking ban during the spring sweep would not be enforced.
Rutherford suggested amending the traffic bylaw to reduce the ticket fine amount to $150 and offer residents a $100 option if they pay within a week.
She said that amount strikes the right balance between encouraging compliance and not penalizing people too much.
Her subsequent motion also passed unanimously.
Steve van Diest, who is running with the Principled Accountable Coalition for Edmonton (PACE) party in the next municipal election to replace Coun. Jo-Anne Wright in Ward Sspomitapi, said reducing the fine amount is reasonable but he would like to see better communication from the city about upcoming bans.
He said people in his neighbourhood were surprised and confused to receive tickets and thought warning signs only applied to one street, not a larger area.
He said alerting residents by text message to register for parking ban notifications could be a better way of reaching more people.
"We have the technology," he said.
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