No More Ticket Reduction for Giving Up Hearing

Parking scofflaws are about to lose a precious perk. The city Department of Finance is axing a program that offers reduced parking-ticket fines for motorists who agree not to fight their summons in court, The Post has learned.

Finance Commissioner David Frankel said scrapping the program as of Jan. 30 could save the city roughly $50 million a year.

“When I think about city services and revenue, this is not a place where the city should be losing another $50 million or so,” Frankel told The Post. “This is one of those places where we just don’t think that $50 million in lost revenue is worth what that means to other services in the city.”

Instituted in 2007 as a way to reduce a backlog of unpaid tickets, the program allows Manhattan parking violators to pay $43 instead of $65 for alternate-side and expired-meter fines if they don’t appeal.

Outerborough motorists pay $32 instead of $45 for the same infractions if they don’t fight the ticket.

Under the program, double-parking fees are reduced citywide to $90 from $115.

Anyone who loses an appeal in court is required to pay the full fine.

Frankel said the number of people taking advantage of the program nearly doubled in two years, from 680,000 in Fiscal Year 2009 to 1.3 million in 2011.

“The number of people requesting settlements has risen dramatically. As these numbers have increased, they begin to cost the city a significant amount of money as more and more people realize what is going on,” he said.

Killing the program sparked an outcry from City Council Transportation Committee Chairman James Vacca (D-Bronx).

“New Yorkers now pay over $600 million a year in traffic summonses,” he said. “Removing even the most limited of fairness programs truly proves the point that enforcement of traffic laws is too often about raising revenue in any way the taxpayer can be squeezed.”