Amnesty Period Set For Parking Scofflaws

Drivers with unpaid, past due parking violations can pay up without penalty under an amnesty program approved by the town board.
Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

Drivers with outstanding parking fees will get a break if they pay their fines in the new year.

The Town of Huntington unanimously approved earlier this month an amnesty program for outstanding parking violations issued between Jan. 1, 2013 and June 30, 2018.

The resolution was co-sponsored by Councilmen Mark Cuthbertson and Ed Smyth.

The amnesty program will provide drivers with a 40 percent reduction in the cost of all parking ticket fines and additional surcharges if the ticket is paid before April 1, 2019, according to town documents.

Huntington last held a parking amnesty program in 2013, when violators were similarly offered 40 percent off their outstanding parking tickets.

According to town documents, there is in excess $1.5 million in fines and surcharges still unpaid from parking fines and surcharges issued by the town’s Traffic Violations Bureau since Jan. 1, 2013.

The Maryland-based Brekford Corporation has administered the town’s parking ticket management system since 2013, and the company submitted a plan to implement the amnesty program to the town at the end of October.

The town will mail letters to people who qualify for the parking ticket amnesty program, and payment can be made either online or by mail, according to town documents.

The Huntington town attorney is responsible for the administration of the Traffic Violations Bureau, and will oversee the amnesty program along with the director of public safety.