The City of Edmonton is exploring discounted parking tickets for people who pay early. In a report to city council’s Community and Public Services Committee, administration outlined how Edmonton could implement a tiered fine system that would reduce penalties for early payment and increase fines for late payment. The report says Edmonton’s current ticketing system, which applies a single flat fine for all parking violations, would require about $1 million in upgrades, along with ongoing annual maintenance costs. A tiered system would also likely reduce revenue from parking tickets. “In the report, it says we would reduce the revenue by about $300,000 to $400,000, but if it can simplify the processes that we undertake and do it more efficiently electronically, I think it would be worth looking at pursuing,” Coun. Jo Anne Wright of Ward Sspomitapi told reporters Monday. The report says five of seven large Canadian cities, including Calgary, use tiered or incentive-based fine systems that encourage early payment of parking violations. It adds those cities also have integrated e-ticketing systems. Last year, Edmonton collected $8.3 million from 112,613 parking tickets, averaging about $74 per ticket. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson
