Posted: April 13, 2010 1:22:48 PM PDT
About 30 percent of parking ticket recipients have chosen to pay online in the last month, thanks to a new electronic payment option offered by the City of Bellingham. Electronic payment allows people to pay their parking tickets anytime, anywhere by credit card via the City website.
The option to pay parking tickets online became available on March 15, “soft-launched” on the City website with little fanfare to test the system and work out any problems.
“Online parking ticket payment provides an important customer service improvement that people have requested for several years, including members of the City’s Transportation Commission,” Clark Williams, Public Works Transportation and Communications Superintendent, said. “While no one likes to get a parking ticket, allowing quick electronic payment makes paying the fine much more convenient.”
The little yellow envelopes distributed by parking meter enforcement officers are now stamped with the website address for online payment. Parking tickets may still be paid in person at the Municipal Court counter, via U.S. Mail or using the drop box in front of Bellingham City Hall.
Linda Storck, Judicial and Support Services Director, said her office processes more than 48,000 tickets annually, so offering an on-line payment option is a much more efficient, cost effective way to handle these transactions.
“If these numbers stay consistent over time, that means we have to open and manually process about 16,000 fewer envelopes each year,” Storck said. “This is one of several ways we’ve absorbed budget and staffing reductions in my office.”
To pay parking tickets online, customers will need to know either the vehicle license plate number and state or the parking ticket number, and have their Visa, MasterCard or Discover card available. No convenience fees are charged for online transactions.
The system automatically calculates late fees. Parking tickets begin accruing late fees 15 days after they are issued. If the ticket is paid on-line before the late fee is calculated, no late fee is owed. Parking tickets that are more than 60 days or more past the issue date will be sent to collections and cannot be paid online, Storck said.
The project cost about $5,500 to complete. This is the second electronic payment option launched by the City in 2010, joining the new online utility bill payment service that begin earlier this year.
For more information, visit https://www.cob.org/parkingpayments/ or call the City of Bellingham Judicial and Support Services at 778-8150.
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Media Contact:
Clark Williams, Public Works Transportation and Communications Superintendent, 778-7810
Linda Storck, Judicial and Support Services Director, 778-8150
Janice Keller, Communications Manager, 778-8100
