Crime & Safety
Parking Tickets? Pay Up or Risk the Boot or Towing
Drivers, beware. If you have unpaid parking tickets, you could be at risk of being towed or booted.
The Village of Lemont is owed roughly $472,000 in unpaid parking tickets—and it's about to get more aggressive in recovering the funds.
Drivers with unpaid parking tickets risk being towed or having their car booted, after the village board voted Nov. 25 to reduce the total number from five, to three.
Lemont has collected $58,000 in unpaid parking tickets and ordinance violations since last year, with the help of collection agency Municipal Collections of America. But many drivers are still skirting paying their tickets.
Drivers at the risk of being booted or towed will receive a warning letter, giving them 14 days from the date of the notice to pay up. The updated ordinance also applies to incomplete traffic education programs or unpaid automated speed enforcement system, or automated traffic law violation.
If towed, the car is only released to its owner after all fines are paid, including accrued daily impound charges. A post-immobilization and post-towing notice is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle advising the owner of the right to a hearing to challenge the validity of the impoundment within 45 days.
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