City may give state money from parking tickets

Monday, Sept. 30, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday will consider sending nearly $1 million to the state to end a dispute over money collected from an old ordinance that gave taxpayers a break on parking fines.

Until 2000 the city allowed parking violators to pay $10 instead of the usual $20 if they did so within 15 days. The problem was many motorists unwittingly paid the full amount, leaving the city with the quandary of what to do with the extra cash.

In June the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that the city had to turn over to the state $400,000 to $500,000 in fines overpaid from 1986 to 1995.

City officials say that after adding in overpayments between 1995 and December 2000, when the discount was discontinued, and the considerable interest, the city now must pay the state $985,347.

Although the council may have appeal options, City Attorney Brad Jerbic recommends in a memo that the city pay the Nevada Unclaimed Property Division from funds that are available in the Parking Enterprise Fund, where parking garage lease fees and similar revenues are kept.

"Of course, we'd rather not have to do it, but we do have the funds available and we will have a balance left once this is paid," Deputy City Manager Steve Houchens said.

The $10 break originally was offered to inspire quicker fine payments and reduce the number of unpaid tickets for which bench warrants were issued, which had resulted in the city expending hours and other resources to chase down those who didn't pay.

Many violators routinely sent in checks for the full levy when they didn't owe it, because they either did not read the fine print on their tickets or did not understand the benefit.

The problem was compounded when the city opted not to set aside the overpayments when the state sued to send the money to the Unclaimed Property Division, the agency that oversees unclaimed money or abandoned property and tries to find its rightful owners.

The city instead used the money to bolster the general fund.

District Judge Michael Cherry ruled that the city could keep the money, and the state appealed.

In June the high court reversed Cherry, noting "Parking fine overpayments are abandoned property subjected to the provisions of the (unclaimed property) act if they have remained unclaimed for more than five years."

The city, as a result of the controversy, changed its ordinance in 2000. A parking fine now is $20 whether it is paid early or on time.

Although the city maintained a database of those who overpaid, officials have long maintained that it would have been costly to hunt people down to give refunds, especially since a number of the citations were issued to out-of-staters.

The state treasurer's office has estimated it eventually will pay about one-third of those who are owed refunds. City officials say far less money will get back into violators' hands, because the city several years ago ran ads seeking overpayers and got a poor response.

The Nevada Unclaimed Property Division must hold the overpaid fine money in trust in perpetuity or until the true owners are found.

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