The city has a bit of a budget problem currently, so it makes sense that Mayor Bloomberg is looking to turn over every stone for any extra revenue he can find. So to that end, the city is now going after nearly 4,600 municipal employees with 12,000 outstanding tickets worth a total of $1.6 million, in the biggest scofflaw crackdown in years.
And to make sure they pay up, the city Finance Department intends to garnishee the wages of non compliant workers in the next few months. "No one likes fines. But people who don't pay the city are hurting the vast majority of New Yorkers who do," Finance Commissioner David Frankel said. The the city has already recovered $600,000 in outstanding fines from 2,600 workers who paid 5,600 tickets since December....which just goes to show how bad it's been. The last crackdown took place in 2002, during which the city went after 750 employees paychecks.
Since Bloomberg has been in office, there’s been a 45 percent increase in traffic-enforcement agents and a 64 percent spike in parking fees. And last year, he slammed a bill which would allow drivers who've blown off their parking fines to park in city streets without fear of being towed. But who is the worst city agency when it comes to tickets? According to the Post, it may very well be the FDNY, whose employees "routinely crumple up tickets they get when parked illegally." But they have such a subtle sense of humor!
