Excuses, and more excuses: Collector has heard them all

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on February 09, 2007

The meter wasn't really expired.

"I was too drunk to drive my car home, so I left it overnight."

"I was only gone for two minutes, and I left my flashers on."

"You're raising revenues on the backs of citizens."

Town Collector Claire McGinnis has heard it all, including these excuses for getting parking tickets. Amherst gives out 32,000 tickets a year, and about 600 of the offending (and offended) motorists file appeals, she said.

While McGinnis settles many in writing, she schedules the first Friday morning of the month to hear in-person appeals.

"It's not an easy day for me, because people are unhappy and I am the face they're going to equate with that situation," she said. "I frequently feel like I need Friday afternoon off."

Many of her rulings involve judgment calls, and she's become familiar with the quirks of certain downtown meters, she said. Often, people need to vent, saying Amherst is hostile to business, and she tries to remove emotion from the discussion, she said.

The three employees who give out the tickets frequently get grief from motorists, but have instructions to walk away from any confrontation, McGinnis said.

"It looks the same to them whether the meter is two minutes (expired) or two hours," she said.

About half the appeals are successful, but rarely the ones involving "unexpired meters," drunken driving or two-minute shopping trips. She is also unsympathetic to motorists who appeal $200 fines for parking in spaces reserved for those with handicapped placards, she said.

But motorists who say they put coins in the wrong meter in the Amity Street parking lot or on Boltwood Avenue often get off, because these meters can be confusing, she said.

Some motorists say they put coins in the machines at parking lots but got tickets because they neglected to place the paper slips on their dashboards. They have shown "due diligence" and may not have to pay, McGinnis said.

But don't try this too many times. "If I recognize your name, it's a bad thing," she said.

Amherst has increased the cost of parking tickets twice in the last two years, and they are now $10. But this has not reduced the number of tickets greatly, she said.

About 80 percent of the people who get parking tickets pay them on time. Those who don't face surcharges of $15 after 21 days and $25 more after another 30 days, she said.

Vehicles with five unpaid tickets can get "the Denver boot," which renders them immobile until the fines are paid. Deadbeats can also face problems at the Registry of Motor Vehicles when they seek to renew a license, McGinnis said.

The largest amount a motorist has owed on parking tickets in the 21/2 years she has been collector is $3,000, she said. It's rare that she will consider waiving any of those fines, she said.

"Someone doesn't accidentally get a $3,000 problem," she said.

McGinnis is also in charge of collecting real estate and personal property taxes and motor vehicle excise taxes. In comparison to these sums, parking tickets do not represent big bucks.

"I spend a lot of time on parking for what should be a small part of the job," she said.