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Cincinnati has lots of unpaid parking tickets

WVXU

Cincinnati officials said the city is owed about $12 million from unpaid parking tickets dating back to 2005.  But they admit only about half that amount is potentially collectable.  

Finance Director Reggie Zeno said the city does a good job collecting tickets issued to drivers with Ohio license plates.

“We currently are collecting up to 85%, which is a pretty significant collection rate within the state,” Zeno said.  “However the collection rate for non-Ohio tickets are only approximately 60%.”

Cincinnati is ready to sign an agreement with the Xerox Corporation to handle some portions of the city's parking operations.  But unlike last year's failed parking plan, this one has the city keeping complete control of the system.  

Xerox will be assisting with things the city is not good at like data analytics.  It will also be tasked with collecting unpaid parking tickets.

Assistant City Manager Bill Moeller said new parking enforcement officers have made a difference in last two months.

“The number of tickets written is up by about 21%,” Moeller said.  “This is not any kind of increased enforcement effort.  This is just getting back to the normal complement of parking enforcement officers.  So that’s about 2,500 additional tickets compared to the same couple of months last year.”

The city is also getting ready to install 1,500 additional smart parking meters that accept credit cards.  It will also be placing 40 multi-space pay stations in some locations.  Eventually drivers will be able to use a smartphone app to add additional time to parking meters in the city.
 

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.