The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The City of Flin Flon impounded its first vehicle yesterday as part of a crackdown on unpaid parking tickets. It wasn't a step that By-law Enforcement Officer Darren Romo wanted to take, but the owner had over $1,300 in outstanding fines and hadn't paid up despite a warning that failure to do so would lead to the impoundment. "Obviously we don't want to go down the road where we have to seize people's vehicles," said Romo, "but we feel that it's our responsibility to the taxpayers that we should be going after these debts." Since Romo's clampdown began in January, only about $8,000 of the $143,000 in outstanding tickets Ñ dating from 1990 to 2002 Ñ have been paid. That's less than six per cent of the balance owing. Romo has sent letters to a fair number of the fine recipients stating that failure to clear up their debt will result in a lean against their vehicle. If they still do not pay, their vehicle will be seized and then auctioned off or sold privately to cover the debt. Any leftover cash would either go back to the owner or to any other organizations with leans against the vehicle. The vehicle does not have to be the same one used in the traffic violation that led to the fine, but any set of wheels registered to the person owing the cash. Through the province's Summary Convictions Act, the City also able to place leans against other property and bank accounts. "We haven't had to go to the bank accounts or leans on property, but probably would if if that was the only way to recover the debts," said Romo. Larger cities place leans against vehicles all the time, but Romo isn't aware of any small communities other than Flin Flon that use this approach. "We took the idea from Winnipeg because we had so many outstanding debts," he said. As for the vehicle impounded yesterday, within an hour of it being towed away, the owner made arrangements to stop by City Hall and pay off the debt to get the vehicle back. That may not be the last time the City will have to impound a vehicle. Romo said a long list of other people will have leans placed against their vehicles in the near future.5/5/04
