City employees have thumbed their noses at well over $650,000 in parking tickets and camera violations such as speeding or running red lights while driving government cars — blowing off summonses with little consequence, The Post has found.
The actual sum that city workers owe taxpayers could be much higher. The latest tally covers 25,829 cars controlled by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, but doesn’t yet include most Housing Authority and other cars. Some agencies manage their own fleets.
Enforcement has been lax, and critics call it a double standard.
“The public is screwed, while city employees can get away with operating vehicles illegally,” said Glen Bolofsky, CEO of parkingticket.com, which fights summonses. “Everyone should play by the same rules.”
The city Department of Finance, which collects fines, says Parks and Recreation employees owe at least $248,500 for 2,500 on-the-job tickets in judgment — meaning each is unpaid more than 100 days.
Health Department employees owe $76,653 for 626 tickets. One city car alone piled up 30 overdue summonses totaling $4,623 with interest. Homeless Services employees owe at least $42,746 in delinquent tickets. One car racked up 38 delinquent summonses totaling $3,413 in fines.
When regular citizens fail to pay tickets, the DOF sends debts to collection agencies and seizes cash from bank accounts. When the fines exceed $350, the Sheriff may boot or impound their car.
But NYC workers have scant incentive to pay up. The DOF — which itself has scofflaws on staff — does not ask who was driving city cars slapped with violations. Since 2017, the DOF has sent quarterly reports to each department listing license plates with overdue summonses — many on the books for years.
Each department’s “Agency Transportation Coordinator” is supposed to ID the scofflaws and ask them to pay. Those who disobey “may face disciplinary action,” but few do.
“To date, we have suspended the driving privileges of one driver and reallocated that city vehicle to another driver,” said Health Department spokeswoman Stephanie Buhle. “We are actively pursuing options to collect the money.”
Parks spokeswoman Crystal Howard said the agency’s unpaid tickets span seven years. It has “cleared” 500 in the last six months, she added.
Citywide, workers owed $880,000 in 2017. DOF spokeswoman Sonia Alleyne said, “Commissioner (Jacques) Jiha has made a concerted effort to ramp up enforcement of debt collection on city-owned cars, and these efforts have led to a 25% decrease in unpaid tickets.”
Of 40,825 employees authorized to drive city cars, 1,932 can take them home and back at taxpayer expense.
Some still don’t pay tickets. Thomas O’Donnell, an investigator in the Office of Pupil Transportation, commutes 90 miles roundtrip to and from Massapequa Park, L.I.,in a city-owned car.
His summonses for speeding in a school zone and parking in a bus lane in 2015 grew to $280 with interest. O’Donnell blamed a co-worker he claimed was driving, said then-supervisor Ralph Manente.
“I’m not paying them,” O’Donnell said, according to Manente. After many inquiries, the Department of Education said the tickets are now paid, but it would not specify by who. O’Donnell refused to comment.
Agencies sometimes can’t tell who was driving a car, or the culprit has left the job. After eight years, Alleyne said, the summonses “expire” and thus are voided.