Common Council unanimously approves ordinance that increases time to pay parking citations



MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday, Feb. 26 unanimously approved an ordinance that increases the time to pay parking citations without a penalty from 10 days to 14 days.

According to a news release, the ordinance, sponsored by Alderman Cavalier Johnson, the extended grace period isn't expected to have a material effect on parking citation collections and may actually reduce the number of unpaid citations submitted to a collection agency for non-payment.

“My goal in sponsoring this legislation is economic justice,” said Alderman Johnson in the release. “Before this ordinance change, failure to pay a parking citation within 10 days meant a late-payment penalty was assessed to the original ticket. Residents living paycheck to paycheck now have a longer grace period to pay a citation in full, thus breaking a cycle of missed payment deadlines and ever-increasing late-payment penalties. Such penalties can push the cost of the citation beyond a person’s ability to pay.”

The release said research requested by Alderman Johnson showed several cities in the United States have greater grace periods than Milwaukee’s previous 10 days, including Cincinnati (14 days), Cleveland (15 days), Minneapolis/St. Paul (21 days), Chicago (21 days) and St. Louis (30 days).