Oak Park Parking Amnesty Program Temporarily Waives Late Fees

OAK PARK, IL -- Oak Park residents who owe money on parking tickets will have a little breathing room to pay now that the village has launched a new parking amnesty program. The program, which applies to tickets received prior to 2018, gives residents until April 4 to pay without additional late fees or collection efforts.

In 2017 alone, 180,000 parking tickets were issued, officials said in a news release, so the amnesty program is likely to affect a number of residents. Village Manager Cara Pavlicek said residents will benefit from the ability to "satisfy their debt at a discount and avoid future enforcement, which can escalate to collections or even vehicle booting.”

The temporary amnesty comes as an effort to eliminate long-standing parking debt ahead of a village-wide shift to an online portal for parking records. Residents who owe on parking tickets can use the online portal to quickly pay their tickets and have their accounts credited and late fees waived "almost immediately," according to village officials.

Previous late fees that have been paid will not be refunded and late fees will be reapplied after the amnesty program comes to a close on April 4.

The parking amnesty program runs from Feb. 4 through April 4.

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