There’s a renewed call for the City of Winnipeg to be given the power to crack down on unpaid fines, including the ability to reject driver’s licence renewals and add the charges to property tax bills.
More than 102,000 city tickets have not been paid, for an outstanding balance of $12 million, since 2016, as per city documents. About $8 million is linked to parking tickets, with the rest charged for various bylaw offences.
Coun. Janice Lukes said the revenue could go a long way to helping the city balance its next budget.
JESSICA LEE / FREE PRESS FILES
More than 102,000 city tickets have not been paid, for an outstanding balance of $12 million.
“This is a revenue source that people owe the city and we have no teeth to actually enact collection… It’s $12 million of frustration (while) a one (percentage point) tax increase raises about $6 million,” said Lukes (Waverley West), council’s public works chairwoman.
In October 2023, city council approved a plan to try to ramp up fine collection. It includes asking the provincial government to let the registrar of motor vehicles refuse to issue or renew driver’s licences and/or vehicle registrations for individuals with outstanding fines, as well as refuse to accept insurance premiums from vehicle owners who have outstanding fines, even if that refusal results in insurance being cancelled.
At the time, the city expected vehicle-related penalties would initially be tied to parking offences, but noted these could also be used to collect non-parking fines.
City officials also asked the province to allow all of the fines to be added to property tax bills, while predicting offences related to a property, such as bylaw fines for long grass, noxious weeds and garbage, were most likely to be collected that way.
Lukes is again urging the province to make the changes.
“The province has had our request for a year. It’s not going to cost (the province) a single thing (to implement),” she said.
In February, the city changed its policy to immediately tow and impound an illegally parked vehicle if the owner has three or more previous unpaid parking tickets. The vehicle can be held until the cost of the tow and related fees are paid. The outstanding previous fines do not need to be paid before the vehicle is returned.
The city can also seize and sell property owned by people with outstanding fines, such as placing liens on vehicles with unpaid parking offences.
As of Sept. 30, 2024, unpaid tickets amounted to about $12.5 million, with $10.1 million currently sent to a collection agency or placed under lien, wrote spokesman David Driedger, in an email.
However, Lukes said that effort has fallen short of what’s needed, since the portion of drivers who paid parking tickets rose just slightly between Dec. 31, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024, to 87 per cent from 85 per cent.
City staff are considering towing illegally parked vehicles after two unpaid parking tickets, instead of three, to further crack down, she said.
Coun. Jeff Browaty, head of council’s finance committee, said he’d also like the city to gain the powers it had requested to ensure fines get paid.
“Some people are perpetual abusers of (parking spaces) and getting tickets and not paying them… The revenue, of course, would be very nice to see,” said Browaty (North Kildonan).
The councillor said he has heard complaints that some residents don’t find out about city tickets for years before a collection agency is called in to demand they pay them. He said he’s open to the city considering some leeway on payments following long communication lapses.
In a request for proposals, the city is seeking its next collection agency to help claim unpaid fines, for a contract that begins Jan. 1, 2025.
Manitoba Municipal Relations Minister Ian Bushie said the province is in discussions with the city about the additional power it has requested.
“We’re having kind of the all-government approach as to how we can help the city. It’s significant for us to be able to do this right and not just have kind of a knee-jerk reaction to the issue of the day, but rather, look forward to something that’s more long term,” said Bushie.
The minister said changing provincial rules as the city suggests would require a complicated process that involves the finance, justice and municipal relations departments.
“So being able to… have those conversations across all departments is not something that’s super fast (in getting a) result… We want to be able to have (the discussion) in a (thorough) way,” said Bushie.
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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