Last Updated on March 17, 2022 by Lawrence Berezin
What is the Stipulated Fine Program?
The Stipulated Fine Program “SFP” is for businesses that own or lease commercial vehicles and make expeditious deliveries in NYC. An enrolled delivery company is eligible for reduced parking fines in exchange for waiving its right to contest parking tickets.
But, these businesses must register in the NYC Fleet Program to be eligible for participating in the Stipulated Fine Program.
The Evil Empire has significantly changed the Stipulated Fine Program fine schedule
Here’s a link to the old fines.
The chart below is the new proposed stipulated fine schedule.
The Evil Empire announced changes on March 9, 2022
New York, NY — The New York City Department of Finance today announced an updated schedule of fines as part of its “SFP.” The new schedule of stipulated fines reflects updated information on dismissal rates for adjudicated violations as well as traffic policy goals of the Adams administration.
The changes to 10 stipulated fine infractions are shown below. Fines for double-parking, standing in commercial meter zones, and missing or expired registration and inspection stickers will be increased. Double-parking, for which over 120,000 tickets were issued to stipulated fine participants, will be increased from the current $35 to $65, bringing in an expected $3.6 million in additional fine revenues. The increase results from a tighter NYC Department of Transportation rule governing “expeditious deliveries” enacted in March 2020. The new rule has led to more double-parking tickets being upheld in hearings on violations issued to commercial vehicles.
Stipulated penalties for an additional 18 infractions would remain unchanged. In addition, one current infraction included in the “SFP,” No Standing in a Designated Bike Lane, will have its stipulated fine set at a full violation rate of $115. All participants in the Stipulated Fine Program will have to pay the entire fine amount regardless of the results of hearings for commercial companies.
“These changes in stipulated fines will ensure that fleet owners participating in the program are paying at the same rate as all commercial companies, based on DOF hearings experience,” said Department of Finance Commissioner Preston Niblack. “That allows both the City and fleet owners to avoid the time and expense of hearings while holding fleet owners accountable.”
The “SFP” was created in 2004. Fleet vehicle owners may sign up to participate; tickets they receive on their vehicles are charged at a discount to the face value of the fine in return for waiving their right to a hearing on the tickets. The discount is determined based on the dismissal rate for the same violation in adjudicated hearings for non-participating companies, who are typically represented at adjudication hearings by commercial parking ticket brokers. Total revenue collected is thus what would be expected if such hearing.
Is the “SFP” unfair to taxpayers?
“Last week, an IBO audit estimated that the largest firms saved about $10 million in summonses last year from the city’s “SFP”, which reduces the ticket price on virtually all parking violations (a truck double-parking ticket, for example, costs $115 for truck companies that don’t participate in the program, but only $35 for companies in the program).”
Streetsblog
Commentary
I’m not sure if many drivers think about commercial vehicles’ parking fine reduction programs. But I do. Meanwhile, it’s a great thing to offer commercial delivery business owners a fair way to reduce their parking fines. These delivery businesses are the supply lifeline for the brick and motor businesses that provide people with needed products. Don’t forget your groceries don’t live in cyberspace. We depend on delivery businesses to stock the shelves.
Streetsblog NYC advocates charging commercial delivery vehicles the total price of parking tickets. They point to audits and savings. However, nowhere did they mention the amount of money paid by UPS or FedEx. Here’s a quote from FreightWaves:
New York City is ground zero for clashes that occur between transportation users competing for limited parking spaces. For delivery companies, the tight fit means racking up astronomical parking fines as a cost of doing business. In 2018, for example, FedEx incurred $14.9 million in fines, according to the New York City Department of Finance; UPS, a whopping $33.8 million.
The total amount of commercial parking fines incurred in New York City in 2018 was $181.5 million, meaning the two delivery giants were responsible for about one quarter of the city’s commercial parking fines last year.
These delivery companies contribute mightily to NYC in goods supplied and parking fines paid. Can you imagine a day without these deliveries? I can’t.
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