Sunday, November 4, 2012

City missing out on a lot of dough

From the Times Newsweekly:

City Comptroller John C. Liu announced that an audit of the city Department of Finance’s (DOF) collection of parking tickets discovered that the agency has failed to go after millions of dollars in fines owed by companies with delivery fleets, as the agency gave discounts on their tickets.

“It’s bad enough that people feel like they’re constantly blitzed with parking tickets,” Liu said. “It’s absolutely galling to now find that the city lets big companies off the hook on millions in parking tickets. At the minimum, the city should be as efficient collecting money from big companies as it is from residents and small business owners, who apparently never get a break.”

The DOF manages two programs that offer commercial fleets discounts on parking tickets. The NYC Delivery Solutions (Stipulated Fine) program covers companies that make quick deliveries or service calls, such as private mail couriers. The DOF’s Commercial Abatement Program enrolls commercial fleets that are not engaged in time-sensitive services, such as plumbing repair companies.

To enroll in the discount programs, companies first must pay all their outstanding tickets, waive their right to challenge future tickets, and agree to pay fines within 15 days. The DOF can remove any company that fails to abide by the agreement from the program and levy fines on them without the discount.

Liu’s audit found many companies that did not live up to the agreement and ignored large outstanding debts on their parking tickets without any penalty from the DOF.

Private citizens, whose vehicles can be towed or booted if they fail to contest or pay $350 in tickets within 100 days, were once able to obtain discounts on parking tickets. The DOF canceled this discount program for private citizens as of January.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dontchaluvit!

Liu...the son of a crook and a crook himself...the pot calling the frying pan black!

Another shady Asiatic desperately trying to save face.

How's your legal defense fund coming along, Johnny boy?

Anonymous said...

In the midst of the flooding...Liu ought to be preparing himself for being sent up the river.

Anonymous said...

Nobody really cares what Mr. Comptroller has to say about anything anymore...especially in the midst of the crisis we're facing.
Johnny is old news...without a career soon.

Does this shipwreck still believe he'll become NYC's next mayor?

LOL! Please retire him to Bedlam!

This (literally) just a fart in a windstorm is kaput!

Anonymous said...

These companies get 4-5 tickets a day by traffic agents and cops forced to meet quotas.If the city didn't make a "deal",the cost would be passed on to the end consumer..........

Anonymous said...

That "deal" is not such a great deal anyway. Many fines are reduced from $115 to something like $90. And you waive your ability to contest violations, so violations that can be beat or incorrect summonses must now be paid for.
2007-2008 FedEx alone paid over $10 million. This DOES get passed on to the consumer.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/when-a-fedex-truck-is-absolutely-positively-towed/

Anonymous said...

This little piss ant still thinks he's a dragon!

Anonymous said...

They may have a quota, but that doesn't mean that the violations aren't out there by the thousands every day.

Anonymous said...

Dumpling cheeks Liu is looking a lot like the plump Pillsbury Dough Boy...a real porco faccio!