Minor Parking Ticket Error In NYC Has Cost The City $26M

A code error featured on New York City parking tickets has cost the city $26 million, according to reports. The Department of Finance (DOF) confirmed Monday that it was forced to refund or dismiss 500,000 tickets distributed to drivers.

Parking tickets that are omitted, misdescribed or don't include an illegible required element aren't uncommon. These occurrences, however, can cost the taxpayer — even if it is the tiniest of errors. DOF first discovered the blunder earlier this year after a modified code failed to be rolled out to new ticket recipients. The code changed by one digit from 4-08h10 to 4-08h1.

"Earlier this year DOF discovered that a change in the parking ticket rule from 4-08h10 to 4-08h1 for failing to display a muni-meter receipt or an expired muni-meter receipt had not been applied to tickets that had been issued," Sonia Alleyne, a press officer for DOF, told International Business Times Tuesday. "To correct the error, we sent two sets of letters to drivers who had been ticketed — one with a refund check and the other, a dismissal of the ticket."

The city issued $18 million in refunds to 400,000 ticket receivers. An additional 100,000 ticketholders had their violations dismissed in what amounted to $8 million.

"We are writing to inform you that a change in the New York City Traffic Rules, the summons(es) issued to your vehicle(s) for either failing to display a parking meter receipt or displaying a parking meter receipt while parked in a parking meter zone contained an error and will be administratively dismissed," a letter addressed to ticket recipients read, according to a document obtained by CBS radio affiliate WINS. "We are crediting your account for the paid summons(es) listed below.

"If you have no outstanding parking ticket judgments, a refund check for the amount you paid will be sent to you under separate cover."

This isn't the first time the city has come under fire for a parking ticket blunder. Many residents who attempted to pay off violations online in September were reissued a citation, even if they had received a receipt that confirmed their payment. The "technical issue" made it difficult to process payments through the CityPay website.

"Due to a technical issue, many parking ticket and camera violation payments made through our website on Sunday, September 17, and Monday, September 18, could not be successfully processed, even though payment receipts were issued," the DOF's website reads. "If you attempted to make a payment on either of those days, your original balance may still be outstanding."

Ticketholders whose payments were inadequately processed were required to access the online form to repay the violation. The recipients' credit or debit cards would not be charged for the initial submitted payment that system was unable to process.