Countywide : Deadline Nearing for Ticket Amnesty

Ventura County residents with delinquent traffic tickets have until Thursday to pay reduced fines and clear their driving records under a statewide amnesty program.

All traffic citations issued before April 1, 1991, except those for parking, drunk driving and reckless driving, are eligible.

Under the program, drivers who failed to pay traffic tickets by April 1 can reduce misdemeanor fines from a maximum of $1,000 to $500, and infraction fines from a maximum of $500 to $100.

Misdemeanors include violations such as hit-and-run incidents, and infractions include speeding or running a red light.

Since the three-month program began Feb. 1, only about 600 residents of the 22,000 county scofflaws have paid overdue traffic tickets, said Vince Ordonez, a Ventura County court administrator.

If all 22,000 offenders paid their fines, it would amount to about $2.2 million, with 98% of that going to the state and the remaining 2% to the county court system. Ventura County would receive about $44,000.

The county expects to collect only about $2,000 by Thursday’s deadline, Ordonez said Monday.

“They’re probably thinking nothing is going to happen to them,” Ordonez said of offenders who fail to pay their tickets under the state program. Violators were notified of the amnesty program by mail in February and April, he said.

The state Legislature approved the amnesty program in an effort to generate revenue to help balance the state’s budget.

Thus far, the state has received about $2.2 million, said press secretary Edd Fong in the state controller’s office, who noted that there is a 30- to 60-day lag period between when the state receives the money from local jurisdictions.

Throughout the state, officials are discovering that many offenders are not taking advantage of the amnesty program. Of 50,000 Sacramento County residents eligible, only 1,776 have participated, said Sacramento County court administrator Mike Curtis.

“There’s no penalty for not paying,” said Curtis. Overburdened police officers don’t have the time to arrest those with outstanding warrants, Curtis said, and even those who want to pay their fines don’t have the means to do so.