REGINA — Getting people to pay their parking tickets is a problem in Regina, just as it is in other communities.

There are about $1.9 million in outstanding parking ticket fines in Regina, according to Andrea McNeil-Wilson, manager of licensing and municipal fines with the City of Regina.

"The city has been continuously working on trying to recoup this money as well as bring some efficiencies to this process," she said.

The way the system works is governed by legislation, McNeil-Wilson said. If you get a ticket, you have 14 days to pay it at a reduced rate. If it remains unpaid, you'll get a reminder in the form of a notice of pending summons. If you still don't pay it, you'll get a summons to appear in court.

If you don't show up in court, you'll be convicted and given more time to pay. After that period expires, a late fee is added.

And if you still don't pay the ticket, the city does have some recourse.

First, it will register a lien against your vehicle — it has done so in about 200 cases, McNeil-Wilson said.

The city also has the power to send files to a collection agency or even tow an offender's vehicle and sell it to recoup the money the city is owed. The city hasn't pursued those options yet, but plans to.

"We're just beginning to ramp up with the towing and selling," McNeil-Wilson said. "Our targets are not the individuals who have one ticket. That's not to say if you have one ticket outstanding that you don't have to pay it. But t is put in order of who owes most down to least."

The city's top offender owes more than $20,000 — that equals approximately 280 tickets, many of which were received in one area of the city, though McNeil-Wilson couldn't say where. There is an lien registered against that offender's vehicle.

McNeil-Wilson estimated that out of the approximately 80,000 to 90,000 tickets issued by the city and its partners in Regina every year, 80 to 85 per cent are paid within the first month after they're received.

"It's not as if the city's overrun with scofflaws," she said.

If you have tickets outstanding, you can contact Service Regina at city hall at 777-7000.

Or you can visit the city's website (www.regina.ca) where you can search any outstanding tickets you might have and pay for them by credit card.

That option became available when the city moved away from writing out tickets to using a hand-held, computerized system carried by those who enforce parking to generate tickets.

jcouture@leaderpost.com