Increased Parking Ticket Fines in City of WL

The City of Williams Lake would like to inform residents that parking tickets with increased fines will begin to be issued in the coming weeks.

The Bylaw sets the fines for parking violations at $75, with Class A and Class B violations reduced to a $25 fine if paid within five calendar days. These violations include overparking in one- or two-hour zones, parking for over 48 hours, and parking more than 12 inches from the curb.

The increased fines were adopted by Council on April 5 in order to encourage the prompt payment of parking tickets. 60 per cent of parking tickets go unpaid, creating the unnecessary burden of having to pursue unpaid tickets.

When a ticket goes unpaid, the costs associated with processing a ticket largely outweigh the costs of the initial ticket, and this increase for failing to pay a ticket (within the allotted time) is meant to cover paperwork costs and court time officers spend waiting in court to prosecute these unpaid fines.

Residents can still challenge the ticket and proceed with all the previous steps of appeal if they feel the
ticket was given in error.