[Update below] The Health Department levied $4.8 million in fines against vendors last year but has only collected $1.2 million; according to the Post, the shortfall is partially due to vendors who simply apply for new licenses instead of paying the fines. Vendors pay just $60 for a yearly license and $200 every two years for an identification number, making the ruse a significant money saver when it works. It's a problem the DOH has been battling for years, and despite steps to fix it, the issue persists.

Recently, vendor Mohammed Elshamy allegedly owed $47,480 for unpaid violations but instead filed for a new license, according to the agency. "Vendors have tried to get a license under a new name rather than fix violations or pay accumulated fines, and detecting this type of fraud is difficult," explains the DOH. Both the DOH and the NYPD are currently chasing an elusive fraudster who created multiple identities to operate his hot dog cart and avoid paying the $330,000 in unpaid fines, including the four times his license was revoked.

The DOH and NYPD instituted a new license policy this month that they hope will curtail the duplicity. Fines will now be issued to the holder of the permit instead of the vendor who was operating the unit when the violation was detected. "The new policy will motivate permit holders to ensure that vendors who work for them are handling and serving food safely," the agency says. Hopefully they're also fixing an earlier permit problem that saw vendors unable to renew their licenses because of an ordering glitch.

Though some violations include food safety issues, it's worth noting that thousands of fines are issued for things like "food stored in an adjacent cooler or in a container stashed on the sidewalk." Some carts make bank, but for many small business owners the violations can threaten to end their operation entirely. We reached out to the Street Vendor Project—an advocacy group for mobile vendors of all kinds—for insight and we'll update with more later.

Update: Sean Basinski of the Street Vendor Project tells us the organization "applaud[s] the Health Department for now issuing tickets to vending permit owners, instead of the cart workers. We have been asking them to do that for many years."