Parking tickets down in Columbus, city stands to make more

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s capital city last year issued its lowest number of parking tickets in at least six years.

But The Columbus Dispatch reports Columbus will take in more money in fines than it has since 2012 because city council raised the cost of most parking tickets by $5 last year.

Officials say the increase was needed to put Columbus fines in line with those of other cities and help support the city’s 2015 general-fund budget.

The newspaper reports that officers wrote about 15,000 fewer tickets last year. That’s down more than 10 percent from the previous year. Ticket revenue rose by more than 5 percent to about $5.5 million.

A Department of Public Service official says they believe people are learning how to avoid tickets.