Have some very long overdue Philadelphia parking tickets?
Relief is coming.
City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell announced the city's parking amnesty program Tuesday.
Anyone with unpaid parking tickets from before 2013, can sign up to have their debt forgiven. The amnesty program also offers vehicle owners a 70-percent discount for towing and storage fees from 2014 or earlier.
The savings from Philadelphia Parking Authority debt collection come with some caveats:
- All tickets from 2013 to 2017 must be paid in full or a 24-month payment plan with 10 percent down must be agreed to before a person can apply for amnesty for the older tickets and fines.
- Anyone without outstanding tickets from the past five years can pay a $50 fee to enroll in amnesty and will be forgiven of all violations prior to 2013.
- Anyone with outstanding towing and storage fees must pay 30 percent of the fees in full to have the remaining 70 percent forgiven.
- Any tows from the past three years aren’t covered by the program.
- The amnesty applicant must stay with the payment plan to remain in the program, otherwise he or she will be right back in debt.
Enrollment for the program begins online Thursday and last through the end of April. As of Tuesday afternoon the Parking Amnesty website wasn’t active.
