XPost: can.politics, alt.politics.economics, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: frank.arizona@cogeco.com   
      
   Toronto drivers that were issued around 880,000 parking tickets   
   are getting off scot-free after their cases dragged on too long.   
      
   The city’s decision to withdraw the tickets caught politicians   
   off guard, with Mayor John Tory warning that people not being   
   held to account “makes a mockery of the parking laws.” And it   
   laid bare how the courts had for years been unable to keep up   
   with the number of drivers wanting to fight tickets.   
      
   The tickets were quietly pulled on Friday, primarily to abide by   
   Charter requirements for a trial within a reasonable time.   
   Ironically, the city stands to save money through the decision,   
   arguing it would have cost more to go after these drivers than   
   the tickets were likely to have generated in revenue.   
      
   The city moved to a fixed-fine system in 2014, meaning people   
   can no longer hope for a reduction in court. But the backlog   
   wiped out last week shines a spotlight on the perverse math of   
   the old system, in which Toronto expected to lose money when   
   people issued tickets with small fines chose to fight in court.   
      
   Using historic assumptions about conviction rates and the   
   chances of the fines being reduced, the city believes it would   
   have grossed an average of not quite $23 on each of the   
   withdrawn tickets. However, Toronto would have been out about   
   $26 per ticket in court costs.   
      
   The city says the withdrawn tickets had been piling up since   
   2002 and account for about 3 per cent of the total volume issued   
   since then.   
      
   According to Barry Randell, director of court services for the   
   city of Toronto, the bulk of the withdrawn tickets were issued   
   since 2008. He said that the problem accumulated before recent   
   increases to courtroom space and the number of local justices of   
   the peace, both of which he thinks should prevent such a backlog   
   growing again.   
      
   But before those improvements, the system couldn’t keep up with   
   the number of people wishing to fight their tickets. “A lot” of   
   the tickets were for modest sums that were deemed a lower   
   priority, Mr. Randell said.   
      
      
   “Part of my responsibility is to do as much as I can to make   
   sure the serious charges get to court,” he said. “And so one of   
   the results is that these less serious charges have to wait.”   
      
   City staff say that stopping pursuit of these cases has no   
   effect on the budget because there is a cushion built in for   
   tickets that may be withdrawn. But the $20-million in revenue   
   they could theoretically have brought in would have been welcome   
   in Toronto, which struggled to balance its books this year.   
      
   Mr. Tory said the decision to wipe out the old tickets was   
   pragmatic, given the Charter issue, but he was alarmed that the   
   problem had been allowed to fester for so long.   
      
   “It’s not just about the money, it’s also about the fact it   
   allows people to kind of get away with just ignoring [tickets],”   
   he said.   
      
   “The notion that it should amount to 880,000 tickets over [13]   
   years which could have produced gross revenues of $20-million is   
   an extraordinary thing that shouldn’t be repeated. And that’s   
   why I hope somebody can look at it, whether it’s from the   
   auditor’s office or somewhere else, to figure out how we can   
   improve the procedure to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”   
      
   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/city-of-toronto-   
   cancels-880000-unpaid-parking-tickets/article26242361/   
      
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