Council cuts parking fines
Wingecarribee Shire Council will reduce parking fines across the Shire following a majority vote by Councillors.
The decision was made at Council’s final Ordinary Meeting of the year and follows a similar reduction administered by the State Government in a limited number of venues across the Sydney CBD.
At present parking infringements are set by Revenue NSW and range from $112 to $561.
Mayor Gair said the reduction would come into effect as of 1 March 2019 and follows a change in State legislation enabling Councils to reduce local parking fines.
“It’s important to remember that the reduction in fines only affects minimum parking penalties,” he said.
“This means that local parking fines currently costing $112 will be reduced to $80 from March next year.
“Higher level parking infringements will remain unchanged.”
“We’re confident that even though base-level parking fines will be reduced, local motorists will still do the right thing and adhere to the parking rules,” Mayor Gair added.
“Contrary to popular belief parking infringements aren’t about raising revenue, but rather, are designed to ease traffic congestion, help promote vehicle turnover and in turn support local businesses.
“We’d hate to see that small minority of motorists that flaunt the rules see this reduction as a disincentive to do the right thing by their fellow drivers.”
“And ultimately, any debate about the cost of parking fines would be redundant if people did the right thing and followed the parking regulations,” the Mayor said.