The city of Athens gained about $900,000 after issuing roughly 22,000 tickets last year, according to the Athens Police Department’s Annual Report.
Some of the most common violations included expired meter tickets, 24-hour parking violations, exceeding a two-hour limit and parking at a yellow-colored curb, which indicates a no-parking zone.
The fees paid to the city for each of the 26 possible parking violations added up to $894,548.
The most expensive ticket you can get is for illegally parking in a handicap spot, said Charlene Cravens, a parking enforcement officer. The city issued fines for this violation 20 times at $250 per ticket.
Cravens added the least expensive ticket is for an expired meter, which is $10 if paid within five business days, after which the ticket would become $15. There were 12,365 expired meter tickets handed out in 2013.
Athens Police Captain Ralph Harvey said revenue from parking tickets goes into the city’s general fund, which is redistributed by city council and the mayor for a wide range of needs such as payroll and street projects.
“I can’t say that a dollar you pay in a parking ticket gets back to me, but it could,” Harvey said. “Some of that money does come to the police department for payroll.”
Aside from the tickets handed out for expired street meters, the most common ticket is for a 24-hour parking violation — or leaving your car in the same spot on an unmetered city street for longer than a full day.
The law was passed after citizens complained of “storage parking,” or vehicles that would be left in a street spot for days, weeks and even months at a time.
“I think it’s effective because there is a very large opportunity for violations but comparatively, there are only a small amount of tickets written,” Harvey said. “We have some repeat offenders, but generally when someone understands what the law is, they don’t violate it. That to me shows it is successful.”
The law helps to keep spots open throughout the city, said Jennifer McClain-Eskey, a parking enforcement officer.
“As most people here know, parking is kind of an issue,” McClain-Eskey said. “There aren’t enough spots for the amount of cars.”
However, she added there aren’t many signs that alert those parking their cars of the 24-hour rule.
“What the rule doesn’t necessarily etch out is that you can go back to the exact same spot, you just have to give someone else a chance to park there,” McClain-Eskey said.
One of the city’s four parking enforcement officers is tasked with chalking the tires of cars that are parked in unmetered city street spots. Some folks might believe that simply driving to a new spot close by removes the chalk, but the city’s parking enforcers know differently.
“Studies show if you drive one city block, it completely removes that chalk,” McClain-Eskey said. “If you do one lap around the street, you will be completely fine. If someone just moves one spot, it doesn’t remove the line.”
Emma Ockerman contributed to this report.
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