Federal Hill residents demand action as city leaves millions in traffic fines uncollected

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — After three scheduled meetings were canceled, Federal Hill residents say they have been unable to get City Hall to address what they describe as millions of dollars in uncollected traffic fines across Baltimore.

Stephen Topping, a Federal Hill resident, said community members began digging into the issue as speeding drivers and illegal parking increasingly endangered the neighborhood.

“There were a large number of accounts, over 100,000 that had unpaid parking fines in Baltimore City,” Topping said.

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Using public documents available through the city’s Open Baltimore website, community leaders found what they say is $142 million in uncollected tickets issued for parking and moving violations. When unpaid penalties were added, residents calculated $288 million in revenue the city has failed to collect.

“It’s hundreds of millions of dollars citywide that’s being lost,” longtime resident Sandra Seward said.

The issue was not raised during the city’s Board of Estimates meeting on Wednesday when an audit of the city’s finance department uncovered more than $4 million in payments on leases and loans the city has failed to collect.

“There is no way in hell we should have this amount of money just standing out there,” Mayor Brandon Scott said.

Taxpayer advocate David Williams said the information residents found should not have been difficult for city officials to identify.

If regular citizens can find this information then city officials should have it at their fingertips,” Williams said.

Williams said he believes there is even more uncollected revenue beyond what has been publicly identified and blamed city leadership for a lack of oversight.

“They need to blame themselves and passing the buck doesn’t fix it,” he said.

“City leaders are always complaining there’s not enough money and they need to raise taxes and fees yet there’s millions of dollars out there and they need to take this seriously,” Williams added.

“If our data is right, this city is even more broken. If these council people are worried about $4 million, it’s laughable when you have hundreds of millions of dollars regarding parking fines,” Seward said.

In Federal Hill, residents question whether city leaders are prepared to deal with their multi-million dollar findings.

“They’re going to continue to do what they want without care about the residents of Baltimore,” Seward said.