Seattle courts resume late fees for unpaid parking, camera and traffic tickets
Beginning Monday, Seattle courts resumed late fees on infraction tickets that are past their due date, ending the suspension of late fees that began during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
According to a media release, about 350,000 tickets will be impacted if they remain unpaid.
“This weekend was the first batch of several default penalties that were added in our system and postcards will go out Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of this week from our printer notifying that first about 80-85 thousand of those will go out,” said Jerry Stein, Court Payments Manager at Seattle Municipal Court. “Our teams have been instructed to be pretty gracious about setting those penalties aside if you respond promptly to that ticket and had not heard about that.”
To avoid late fees, the city suggests paying your tickets, considering community service plan options or scheduling a hearing to dispute or possibly lower the tickets.
In March 2020, default penalty fees for past-due tickets and referring tickets to collections were halted due to economic hardships caused by the pandemic.
Late fees are an additional $25 for parking and camera tickets, and an additional $52 for traffic tickets.
If you lost your ticket(s), the city’s online portal can check your license plate, and any issued tickets with that vehicle will be listed.
