Fort Worth parking tickets just got more expensive

It just got more expensive to illegally park in Fort Worth.

Letting that parking meter expire will now cost $40 instead of $30. No parking zone tickets will be $60 instead of $35 and parking in a disabled spot illegally will cost drivers $200, up from $155.

The Fort Worth City Council passed the fee increases Tuesday without discussion. They start Jan. 1.

The decision comes after city staffed looked at parking fines in Texas’s other major cities. Fort Worth’s fees were on average 51 percent lower than those in El Paso, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.

A dramatic increase for parking oversized trucks illegally should mean residents will see fewer 18-wheelers parked in their neighborhood.

Truck drivers now pay $35 for a parking ticket. The new fee would be $200.The increase combats the growing number of 18-wheelers parking on streets, while generating more revenue for the city, Councilman Cary Moon said. Moon’s district includes parts of far north Fort Worth, a hot spot for trucks parking on residential street.

“Our officers would write a ticket and the driver would happily pay, come back and park again,” he said. “It’s just a cost of doing business.”

From October 2017 through September, more than 12,000 citations for expired parking meters alone were written. Illegally parked trucks were cited more than 450 times.

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Fort Worth parking tickets just got more expensive."