Unpaid tickets add up

Chronic parking violators beware: The Newport Beach police will tow your car if you have more than five tickets.

Summer’s not only the season for fun at the beach, it’s also when residents rack up most of their parking tickets, so police officials are encouraging drivers to take care of them before they come out one day to get their car and find it gone.

The city pulls in $2 million to $3 million annually from parking tickets, but the main reason for enforcement is to solve some of the parking problems, especially on Balboa Peninsula where some residents take their bicycles out to run errands rather than give up a spot in front of their homes, Sgt. Evan Sailor said.

Cary Perez, who lives on the Peninsula, has seen a number of his neighbors ticketed. It’s not a problem with him because he said he has several garages.

But while he understands that the city has the right to go after scofflaws and collect the fines, he doesn’t think the work should be contracted out to private companies.

“I don’t think people deserve it,” Perez said. “No matter what they have to pay the ticket, that’s enough.”

The problem, as he sees it, is the hassle that goes with retrieving a car from the tow yard.

“If it was easier to get your car out then it would be understandable,” Perez said, adding he thinks most tow companies grab cars illegally, damage them in the process and then cheat vehicle owners.

When asked Wednesday, some Fashion Island employees didn’t seem too concerned about a crackdown on parking ticket scofflaws because they don’t live in Newport and they have a parking spot reserved for them at work.

Shane Kendall, who works at Gary’s men’s clothing store at Fashion island said, at most he’s had only two unpaid violations at one time, and he usually gets them taken care of one way or another.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Kendall said. “I mean five times, that’s a lot of chances to pay. They need to enforce it somehow.”

Someone who racks up five unpaid tickets, though, are likely people who “just don’t care and don’t realize the ramifications of not paying the violations,” Sailor said.

A $33 ticket can cost a great deal more when it’s not paid right away and the fines start increasing. Fines range from $33 for lesser violations to $415 for parking in a spot reserved for the disabled. And if you don’t pay now you’ll likely get socked with a big bill anyway when you try to renew your registration.

“You’re going to pay for it one way or the other,” Sailor said.

Violators are given three warnings to pay up after the fine is due and receive several chances to pay before then, said Carol Bryant, fiscal specialist with the city’s revenue department.

Vehicle owners are given 21 days to pay after receiving the ticket before being sent a delinquency notice, which notifies them of another 14 days they have to pay without further penalties, Bryant said.

Then a $10 late fee is added, and if that is not paid within the next 21 days another $15 fee is added. If a citation goes more than 90 days without payment 30% of the fine’s original price is additionally tacked on.

An unpaid citation does not make it to the DMV until it has not been paid for at least one year, Bryant said.

KELLY STRODL may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at kelly.strodl@latimes.com.