Mercedes Barone, a frequent visitor to the Village of Port Jefferson, ignored three tickets over the past two years, one of them dating back to 2008. “It’s just the Village of Port Jefferson,” she said. “Technically they can’t put any points on my license and I would only be held to the Village of Port Jefferson court rather than Suffolk County, I just didn’t take any of it seriously.”
But, that’s changed now. Successfully ignoring a traffic violation in Port Jefferson Village is no longer an option. After 120 days of ignoring a summons, a ticket violator will now be issued a default judgment, which will allow the village to either deduct the money owed straight from the violator’s paycheck, freeze their bank account, or prevent the violator from receiving loans.
Funds collected from summons and parking meters bring in revenue for the village. The $8.5 million Village General Fund generates revenue from several different sources, and $600,000 of it comes from parking meters and fines every year.
Parking violators currently owe the village $50,000 in outstanding tickets and fees accrued over the past two years. The village is currently going after 46 people that hold outstanding summons. Each of them has at least two, and one owes $5,839 on 51 summonses. That violator could not be reached for comment.
The money collected from tickets goes into the Village General Fund, which supports most of the village’s operations.
Departments that benefit from the fund include the mayor’s budget, the court, treasurer, village clerk, highway, building, code enforcement and parks and recreation departments. This means that the previously uncollected money could end up helping any of these departments, and ultimately the Port Jefferson Village residents.
“Roughly $25,000 to $30,000 from tickets is collected in a month,” Village Treasurer Donald Pearce said. “So if there is extra unpaid money out there then hopefully the judgments will help to collect that.”
The Port Jefferson Village court will look back on all outstanding tickets from the past two years, and scofflaws, those who habitually ignore the law, will have the opportunity to plead not guilty in court, or pay the amount they owe. If the final warning notice is ignored, the judgment will be filed with the county they reside.
Barone went into court with 11 other scofflaws for a final amnesty before the judgments were to be filed within the county. Each defendant pleaded not guilty and received a conference with the Assistant District Attorney. Most were given the opportunity to clear their names for an adjusted fee.
The chance for amnesty got the attention of Colin Kasprowicz, a former village resident who accrued 16 unpaid tickets over the span of two months, and didn’t do anything to resolve them for almost a year. The tickets came from metered spots as well as parking in resident lots without a permit. “I got a final notice from the courts,” he said. “And I decided before the matter went to the county it was best to take care of it here.”
The chance for amnesty got the attention of Colin Kasprowicz, a former village resident who accrued 16 unpaid tickets over the span of two months, and didn’t do anything to resolve them for almost a year. The tickets came from metered spots as well as parking in resident lots without a permit. “I got a final notice from the courts,” he said. “And I decided before the matter went to the county it was best to take care of it here.”
Instead of feeding a few quarters into the meter, Kasprowicz almost risked having his pay check garnished or his bank account frozen. The meters cost twenty-five cents for each half hour and the first ticket for an expired meter is thirty dollars. The cost of the ticket increases over the amount of time that it is ignored.
Even after the amnesty, there are still at least 35 people with outstanding tickets. Those individuals will have a default judgment filed against them in the county they reside.
