Increased Court Costs for Parking Tag Convictions
The Corporate Services Committee reports having:
(1)granted approval respecting Recommendations Nos. (1) to (7) and Recommendations Nos. (10) and (11),
embodied in the report (June 10, 1998) from the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, having regard for the
scheduled implementation date of July 1, 1998, for the provincial legislation in this regard; and having
recommended that City Council concur with the action taken by the Corporate Services Committee; and
(2)recommended to the Budget Committee the adoption of Recommendations Nos. (8) and (9) embodied in the
aforementioned report; and having requested the Budget Committee to report thereon directly to Council for its
meeting scheduled to be held on July 8, 1998.
The Corporate Services Committee submits the following report (June 10, 1998) from the Chief Financial Officer
and Treasurer:
Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to describe recent amendments to Provincial regulations requiring municipalities to collect a
$9.00 increase in court costs effective July 1, 1998, and to remit same to the Ministry of Transportation for Ontario (MTO).
It is also to obtain approval to negotiate and sign an agreement with MTO for the provision of vehicle plate owner name
and address information for parking infractions.
Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
The funding to implement and continue the administration associated with the $9.00 in increased court costs authorized by
Ontario Regulations 945 and 949 received on June 3, 1998, from the Province of Ontario should be obtained from the
administration fee retained by the City after remittance of the data access fees to the Ministry of Transportation. However,
should the administration fee not be sufficient to cover the additional operational expenditures of the Parking Tag
Operations Unit resulting from the implementation of the above regulations, a draw from corporate contingency may be
necessary.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that:
(1)because of the scheduled implementation date of July 1, 998, and the resultant time sensitivity of this issue, the Chair of
the Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request the Government of Ontario to reconsider the regulated
increase in court costs and examine alternative methods of collection and reimbursement of the operating costs incurred by
MTO to provide the name and address information required by Provincial legislation to the City;
(2)the Chair of the Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request the Government of Ontario to provide a
justification as to the $9.00 increase in court costs in light of the fees charged to Ontario municipalities by other
jurisdictions for the same type of information;
(3)the Chair of the Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request the Government of Ontario to delay the
implementation of the increased court costs from July 1, 1998, to October 1, 1998, in order to allow the City sufficient time
to negotiate an 'Authorized Requester Agreement' with the Ministry of Transportation and to make the appropriate changes
to the Parking Tag Management System;
(4)the appropriate City officials be authorised to negotiate and enter into an 'Authorized Requester Agreement' between
the City and the Ministry of Transportation for the provision of name and address information of vehicle plates for which
parking tags have been issued subject to the agreement being in a form and terms acceptable to the Solicitor and the Chief
Financial Officer and Treasurer;
(5)the Chair of the Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request the Government of Ontario to contribute
50 per cent of the City's start-up costs associated with the implementation of the additional $9.00 in court costs and the
remitting of the data access fees to the Ministry of Transportation;
(6)the Chair of the Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of Council, urgently communicate with the Association of
Municipalities of Ontario and major cities and regions within Ontario advising them of the City's position in this matter;
(7)the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer report to the Corporate Services Committee on the responses of the
Government of Ontario and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to the above communications;
(8)the revenue from the administration fees be used to offset the additional ongoing operating expenditures incurred by
the Parking Tag Operations Unit;
(9)the existing Parking Tag Management System server, software and peripherals be upgraded at an estimated maximum
cost of $350,000.00 with funding from corporate contingency to accommodate the additional users required and for the
recording and collection of the $9.00 in increased court costs, and that the initial and ongoing costs be included in the
calculations related to cost recovery;
(10)the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer report back to the Corporate Services Committee as soon as feasible as to
the status and financial implications of the implementation of the additional $9.00 in court costs;
(11)the necessary City officials be authorized to give effect thereto.
Council Reference/Background/History:
In the late 1980's the Government of Ontario began implementing administrative fees for certain judicial and quasi-judicial
activities for parking infractions. These fees included costs for processing convictions, driver's licence suspensions and
vehicle plate denials. The fees were sometimes implemented as new or increased administrative fees and sometimes as
court costs. In 1993, the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto started issuing the Notice of Impending Conviction
document to persons who did not pay their parking fines. When convicted, a portion of the court costs ($2.00 out of $7.00)
was allocated to Metro Toronto to cover the additional costs incurred in issuing the notices. In 1995, Metro Toronto
commenced issuing the Notice of Fine and Due Date for which an additional $2.00 in court costs was provided. Appendix
'A' shows the implementation dates and amounts of the various fees collected by the City for itself and for various
government ministries.
The Ministry of Transportation for Ontario has, in the past, always provided vehicle plate ownership information to
municipalities and the Ministry of the Attorney General court offices on a "no charge" basis. This ownership information is
required under Provincial legislation and is, therefore, vital to the process whereby persons who do not pay their parking
fines are convicted and eventually denied the privilege of renewing their vehicle plate.
In April, 1997, Management Board of Cabinet approved a new MTO $3.00 per transaction data access fee on the condition
that the fee only be applied to the conviction categories "fail to respond" and "deemed not to dispute". Up to this time, this
fee has not yet been implemented. A meeting was held in October 1997, with representation from Metro Toronto, the
Ministry of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ministry of Transportation. Two
subsequent meetings were held in January and March attended only by representatives from MTO, City Legal and City
Finance (Parking Tag Operations). At these meetings the MTO representatives described how they intended to implement
the new fee structure. City staff presented their concerns regarding the proposed changes, but at no time was the City
requested in writing to provide input into the proposed implementation plan and time frame. In fact, at each meeting a
different approach was presented by MTO. No agreement was ever reached and a time frame for implementation was never
announced.
We recently received a letter dated June 1, 1998, from the Assistant Deputy Minister of MTO advising that Ontario
Regulation 945 has been amended to increase court costs by $9.00 effective July 1, 1998, and that Ontario Regulation 949
has been amended to assign these court costs to the municipalities. The $9.00 amount is derived from the Province's
assumption that the municipality's Parking Tag Operation accesses MTO to obtain name and address information 3 times
per case ($3.00 times 3 accesses equals $9.00). In 99 per cent of the cases the City requests name and address data from
MTO only 2 times per case. Based on the Province's own formula the court costs should be increased only $6.00.
The Province's recent announcement requires the City to sign an agreement with MTO in order to receive the plate owner
information required by the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) to obtain convictions on parking infractions. Without
the certified ownership information, the integrity of the parking enforcement program in the City of Toronto would be
severely jeopardized.
Under the MTO imposed regulations and the proposed agreement, the City will collect the additional court costs and
forward the costs to MTO, with the City retaining a $0.25 or 2.7 percent administration fee. Using 1997 statistical
information and applying the new court costs to payments received for the conviction categories "fail to respond" and
"deemed not to dispute", the City would collect approximately $4 million annually in additional payments of which $3.9
million would be given to MTO and $109.0 thousand retained by the City as an administration fee.
Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:
With less than one month to implement the required system and staffing changes, the implementation schedule being
imposed by MTO is impracticable. As well, we expect that the proposed administrative fee allocated to the City will not
cover the additional expenses that the City will incur collecting MTO revenue. Staff will be monitoring the impact of the
additional court costs on operational expenditures.
The change to Ontario Regulation 949 assigns the $9.00 in additional court costs to the municipality. MTO now requires
that an 'Authorized Requester Agreement' between MTO and the City be signed before name and address information will
be provided to the City. Part of that agreement will include the payment of $8.75 of the additional court costs to MTO.
However, a far simpler method for MTO to recover its costs of providing information would be for MTO to collect the fee
from the offender at the time of plate denial. In the eyes of the public, and possibly other ministries of the Ontario
Government, it will appear that the City, along with other Ontario municipalities, is making a 'cash grab'. This perception
may also affect the ability of the City to successfully implement enhanced revenue collection processes which are currently
under consideration.
Based on preliminary information and research it is estimated that the additional operational expenditures resulting from
the implementation of the $9.00 in additional court costs could be up to $490.6 thousand. As well, there will be start up
costs for computer system changes, furniture and equipment of up to $381.9 thousand. Assuming a recovery of the start up
costs over a three year period, the annualised budgetary shortfall in the Parking Tag Operations Unit could amount to over
$500 thousand unless the administration fee is increased.
It is estimated that the number of reopenings, appeals, extensions of time to pay and trial requests could increase by up to
30 percent which would mean an additional 30,000 personal appearances at the City's First Appearance Facilities. These
personal appearances are required to Request a Trial, obtain conviction information in order to obtain a reopening or
extension of time to pay, otherwise dispute the charge or make payment. As well, the additional reporting and account
reconciliation required will increase the work load of the Finance and Administration Section. This increase in volume, will
also affect the most labour intensive area of the Unit, Court Liaison Section. This section consolidates all the paper
associated with a parking infraction from the time the Certificate of Parking Infraction is filed to the time a conviction is
entered. Court Liaison also processes all Trial Requests and all reopenings, appeals and extensions of time to pay.
In order to maintain current service levels, assuming this increase in work load, and to protect and ensure the integrity of
the parking enforcement process, an additional nine staff could be required in the Parking Tag Operations Unit to provide
the additional counter services, telephone services, accounting and reporting and other mandated responsibilities as a result
of the implementation of the increase in court costs.
Staff of the Information Technology Division of the Corporate Services Department confirm that the existing PTMS server
is inadequate to handle the additional nine users. A larger server will have to be either purchased or leased. As well, the
PTMS application will have to be modified to capture and process the additional court costs and provide for the necessary
reporting requirements along with the accounting transactions associated with remitting the funds collected to MTO.
The $0.25 administrative fee proposed by MTO will not begin to cover the additional expenses that will be incurred as a
result of the implementation of the $9.00 increase in court costs. It is necessary that any negotiations with MTO relating to
the 'Authorised Requester Agreement' include negotiations to increase the administration fee allotted to the City. It is
anticipated that the cost to administer and account for the additional $9.00 in court costs could require an administration fee
of $1.50 per fine collected rather than the $0.25 offered by MTO.
Conclusions:
The $9.00 in additional court costs for which MTO is imposing the responsibilities for collection on Ontario
municipalities, is exorbitant. While the concept of 'offender pays' is commendable, the fee is unusually high when
compared to fees charged by other Provincial Governments and by state governments in the United States. For example,
using the same three access algorithm used by MTO, the Province of Quebec charges at least one Ontario municipality only
36 cents for the same information provided by MTO at a soon to be cost of $9.00. It is important to note again that the City
accesses MTO for name and address information only two times per case. MTO has decided unilaterally to implement the
proposed additional court costs without considering the concerns and recommendations of municipal staff. It is therefore
recommended that because of the time urgency involved with implementation that the Chair of the Corporate Services
Committee, on behalf of Council, request that the Government of Ontario reconsider the regulated increase in court costs
and examine alternative methods of collection and reimbursement of the operating costs incurred by MTO to provide the
name and address information required by Provincial legislation to the City. It is also recommended that the Chair of the
Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request that the Government of Ontario provide a justification as to
the $9.00 increase in court costs in light of the fees charged to Ontario municipalities by other Provinces for the same type
of information.
City staff were advised of the July 1, 1998, implementation date in a letter from the Assistant Deputy Minister of MTO
dated June 1, 1998. This time frame does not even allow for Council approval to authorize staff to negotiate an agreement
for the provision of name and address information. As well, the required systems and staffing changes cannot be made
within the allotted time. A more appropriate implementation date would be October 1, 1998. This would allow enough time
for making the necessary changes and negotiate an agreement. It is therefore recommended that the Chair of the Corporate
Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request that the Government of Ontario delay the implementation of the
increased court costs from July 1, 1998, to October 1, 1998, in order to allow the City sufficient time to negotiate an
'Authorized Requester Agreement' with the Ministry of Transportation and to make the appropriate changes to the Parking
Tag Management System.
MTO has traditionally provided the name and address information required to obtain convictions for parking infractions at
no cost to the municipality, however, this is about to change. Without the name and address of the vehicle plate owner, no
further enforcement can take place. MTO is now stating that without an 'Authorized Requester Agreement', no owner
information will be provided, thus jeopardizing the existing revenue stream. It is accepted that such an agreement must be
signed. In order to protect the City's revenue base from further erosion it is recommended that the appropriate City officials
be authorised to negotiate and enter into an 'Authorized Requester Agreement' between the City and the Ministry of
Transportation for the provision of name and address information of vehicle plates for which parking tags have been issued
subject to the agreement being in a form and terms acceptable to the Solicitor and the Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer.
With the anticipated additional work load resulting from the implementation of the $9.00 in additional court costs, the City
will face up to $381,900.00 in one-time start-up costs related to computer programming and analysis and furniture and
equipment. Given that MTO is imposing this extra effort on the City to collect revenue for MTO, it is only appropriate that
MTO contribute to the start-up expenses incurred by the City. It is therefore recommended that the Chair of the Corporate
Services Committee, on behalf of Council, request that the Government of Ontario contribute 50 per cent of the City's
start-up costs associated with the implementation of the additional $9.00 in court costs and the remitting of the data access
fees to the Ministry of Transportation;
The Ministry of Transportation has unilaterally imposed these additional responsibilities on the municipalities who have
similar responsibilities to the City related to the processing of Parking infractions. Parking Tag Operations staff conducted
an informal survey of large municipalities and found that although the concept of user pay is generally accepted, the
manner in which the new regulations are being imposed with little or no consultation and opportunity for municipal input is
considered unacceptable. It is therefore recommended that the Chair of the Corporate Services Committee, on behalf of
Council, communicate with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and to the major municipalities in Ontario
advising them of the City's position in this matter and requesting that a united front be put forward to the Government of
Ontario. It is also recommended that the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer report to the Corporate Services Committee
on the responses of the Government of Ontario, the major municipalities in Ontario and the Association of Municipalities
of Ontario to the above communications;
Funding for the additional expenditures (estimated at up to $490.6 thousand annually with a possible $381.9 thousand
one-time expenditure) associated with the $9.00 increase in court costs is not available within the Parking Tag Operations
Unit budget. The anticipated change in volumes of work is based on past experience of City staff familiar with the
situations that affect parking tag payment rates along with requests for trial and other disputes. While it estimated that this
increase will occur, the workload will be monitored. It is therefore recommended that the revenue from the administration
fees be used to offset the additional ongoing operating expenditures incurred by the Parking Tag Operations Unit. It is also
recommended that the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer report back to the Corporate Services Committee in 3 to 6
months as to the status of the implementation of the additional $9.00 in court costs.
Due to the increased number of transactions processed, the additional number of online users and additional reporting
requirements, the PTMS server and application must be upgraded. It is therefore recommended the existing Parking Tag
Management System server, software and peripherals be upgraded to accommodate the additional users required and for
the recording and collection of the $9.00 in increased court costs, and that the initial and ongoing costs be included in the
calculations related to cost recovery, but in the interim, that maximum funds in the amount of $350,000.00 be allocated
from corporate contingency to allow the appropriate software changes to be made.
Contact Name:
Bryan Kerr, Manager, Parking Tag Operations
Telephone:392-5880
Fax:397-9577
E-mail:bryan_a._kerr@metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca
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Appendix 'A'
Administration Fee and Court Costs Recent History
DateFee TypeAmountRecipientComments
Dec 92Administration Fee$20.00Attorney GeneralIncreased from $10
July 93Court Costs$ 2.00Metro TorontoMailing Notice of Impending Conviction
Jan 95Court Costs$ 2.00Metro TorontoMailing Notice of Fine and Due Date
July 98Court Costs$ 9.00City Collects$8.75 remitted to MTO for access fees
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Appendix 'B'
Allocation of Fines, Costs and Fees Received
AmountRecipient
$15.00set fine amountCity of Toronto
$ 3.00court costsMinistry of the Attorney General
$ 4.00court costsCity of Toronto
$ 8.75 court costsMinistry of Transportation
$ 0.25administration feeCity of Toronto
$20.00administration feeMinistry of the Attorney General
______
$51.00total
City of Toronto share = $19.25
Ministry of the Attorney General share = $23.00
Ministry of Transportation share = $8.75
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Appendix 'C'
Increase in Operating Costs Due to Implementation of Additional $9 Court Costs
