I realize that municipal employees have little incentive to actually think and take initiative...but now i don't know what to do. After years of neglect, i pulled my credit reports and took the steps to begin the cleanup. After 1 1/2 months, only a couple neg items remain...but one is a parking ticket from 6 years ago with the City of San Diego. Instead of fighting the ticket, i offered to settle for the original citation amount in exchange for full deletion. A letter came back that my offer was denied. I just now called, but the "employee" stated that they do not negotiate and will not delete. I stated that i then have little incentive to pay anything since this item should drop off my reports in 6 months. She just answered that they will eventually just go after me through tax returns. Since i am in "letter writing mood" today...i'm going to fire off a letter to the City Treasurer and Mayor letting them know (tactfully) that their policies suck. Any opinions from the peanut gallery? <P><IMG SRC="http://home.planet.nl/~kampf011/smilies/fish.gif"> <P>
My advice is to do nothing and let the seven years expire. The last thing you want is to draw more attention to yourself. In my experience, your letter complaining about the policies would at best end up in the round file, and at worst prompt somebody to take the steps they threatened earlier. -HDAlex
I live in San Diego. They WILL (I repeat) WILL go after your tax returns, regardless of whatever state your in. If your anywhere near San Diego, go down to Traffic court and plead your case with a judge (yes they will try old cases, believe me on this one). The judge may have some sympathy for you if you can muster up a good excuse that you just found out about it... yada yada yada..etc.. and may dismiss the ticket. However it could backfire and they could ask you to pay it. Either way, they will find a way to eventually get their money. California and especially San Diego are in budget crisis right now. So any money they can collect is a blessing to them. They recently went around my neighborhood and ticketed every car (for any reason). I do mean every car. However those of us who choose to fight the ticket won, the rest either won't pay it or will pay it.
With a stack of quarters in hand, walk down the street ahead of the meter maid feeding the ones that are expired. You might not want to be seen doing this. But first check your local parking ordinance to make sure you're not doing something illegal. Believe it or not, this is illegal in some places such as Santa Cruz. Write to the mayor, anonymously if you wish, to say how much money the city lost due to your generosity. In your letter, suggest an attitude makeover in the finance dept. or whoever it is you're dealing with. If you are confident enough about what you're doing, let them know who you are, what you did and who it was that did you the dirt. Encourage your friends to follow your example. Tell the newspapers about it. This is very likely to get press. Here in Berkeley several years ago, we had our version of the Boston tea party over parking issues. Somebody got the bright idea to chop off the heads of half the meters in town and dump them into San Francisco Bay. Some of the newly decapitated meters were turned into attractive planters filled with pretty blossoming flowers. No one was ever caught that I know of. This reign of terror against the meters followed such intense enforcement that it seemed like they had a meter maid assigned to each driver. Now enforcement is a bit more relaxed. Maybe a lesson learned.
Go to DMV and see if the tickets rolled to your registration. If they rolled, then the ticket was paid when you paid your registration. Oh, FYI, tickets have no statute. Meaning they are enforceable forever in California. I am also surprised that they did not take your tax return for it already. It is just a matter of time. I know this information because that is what I deal with all day long. Tickets and the lack of paying for them.
Thank you all for your opinions on this matter: The thing that get's me pissed about this matter is not the money, it's the bureaucracy and red tape. I would like to pay the fine and settle this matter, it's only $100...but the City employees are unwilling to remove the negative entry from my report. This leaves me with NO incentive to pay anything. Being the epitome of a stubborn Taurus, I just fired off a letter to the Deputy City Manager in charge of this division and cc'd it all the way down the line. Hopefully I can get at least 1 person to see the idiocy of the City's position of non-negotiation.
i understand it's frustrating, but I don't think you have any grounds to complain to them over.. you're asking them for a favor, to go above an beyond. Yet they know they don't have to do anything as they'll still get every penny you owe them. Id' try to find a different angle then "pay for deletion"
Jason... I only have 2 acceptable options in this case....shoot for a pay with deletion...or let SOL run out and wait for several years for them to collect the $100 through State tax returns. Below is the letter i fired off to the person with power to make a decision... If i don't get a favorable response i will fire one off to the Mayor and bring negative attention to the whole department. One thing i know for sure, just like in the nutcase letter, people would rather no attention than to have negative attention ME MY ADDY San Jose, CA 95123 Patricia Frazier Deputy City Manager 202 "C" Street, MS 9A San Diego, CA 92101 3/25/03 Dear Ms. Frazier, I am writing to request assistance with an issue regarding the Office of the City Treasury-Collection Division which I believe is under your direction. I have made several attempts to resolve the matter through calls and correspondence at the appropriate level, but to no avail. I have included copies of all correspondence to date for your convenience. During a recent check of my credit report, I became aware I had a collection account with the City of San Diego for an unpaid parking citation dating back to 1997. Although I never received the citation but did own the vehicle at one time, I made a goodwill settlement offer to pay the original citation amount in exchange for deletion of the negative entry in my credit reports. My offer was denied in writing by one of the investigators, so I attempted to resolve the matter over the phone. The first person I spoke with, Investigator Cox, was polite but explained that the City will only update credit reports as a paid collection and is not open to further negotiation. I stated that her explanation left me no incentive to settle the account since a â??paid collectionâ? is still a negative entry on credit reports and this item is due to drop from my reports due to statute of limitations anyway. Investigator Cox was indifferent. I called back to further explain my position, which is to settle the account to both the satisfaction of the City and myself, and had the displeasure of being connected to Investigator Almazan. Investigator Almazan rudely stated that he could care less if I didnâ??t have an incentive to settle the account, the City would eventually collect through the franchise tax board. Further, he raised his voice and became argumentative before accusing me of trying to commit bribery because of my request to remit a payment in exchange for deletion of negative entries in my report. Since when is attempting to negotiate an mutually acceptable settlement considered bribery? And when did the Collection department abandon its mission statement of â??creating an atmosphere of enthusiasm, mutual support, and outstanding customer serviceâ?? Furthermore, it just seems to make sound business sense that front line employees should have a greater incentive to collect revenues on behalf of the City rather than threatening future legal action and becoming verbally abusive. As you may be aware, both actions are contradictory to State and Federal laws pertaining to debt collectors. At any rate, my ultimate goal remains, I would like to settle this matter and pay the fine even though I never knew of it and have not owned the vehicle in years. In exchange, I would simply request that the negative entry in my credit reports be deleted. Seems like a win-win to me since the Collection Division is in the â??collection businessâ? not the â??reporting businessâ?. I look forward to hearing from you soon and I would like to thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter,
i believe you have may have more options. They're bound by FCRA are they not? look for FCRA violations. For a example, did they report the collection is in dispute with the CRA?
If you are not a California resident I would tell that ninny in San Diego that they CAN'T take a Federal tax refund for a parking ticket, nor will any other state allow California to take your refund for a parking ticket. I don't know what California allows for California residents. Congress states by legislation what can be used as a tax refund offset - currently the list includes child support, alimony, tax debts to the Federal or State governments and Federally guaranteed loans. Parking tickets just didn't make the list. Most states take the same position for offsets of their resident refunds by foreign states.
Re: Re: Negotiating with City employees... Thanks for the reply... The government worker, and i use the term loosely, said they would go after my state income tax returns through the franchise tax board. I don't know if it is legal, but he said they do it all the time. I just finished re-reading the FDCPA and there seem to be some violations there. I wonder if the laws apply to municipalities as well as they do to debt collectors. I wonder if i can get a copy of the taped conversations i had with the City workers. I believe they tape record all conversations "for our protection". If this doesn't get resolved quickly, i'm gonna threaten legal action in small claims. Even if i lose, they will have to spend more $ on airfare than they will collect. Would be interested to hear from the pro's regarding dealing with City/State departments.
Re: Re: Re: Negotiating with City employees... If the municipality is collecting the debt on their own behalf, they are an OC, and aren't covered under FDCPA.
Need to be careful with government. Its a lot different then dealing with CA. First. Unless California Statutes or Regulatory laws permit the negot of parking tickets, then forget. They can not negot. Second, Check to see if Calf has an parking adjudication act. Many states allow local city/muni to suspend licenses - pull your drivers abstract. Also check to see if the local police dept has issued a warrant. Third, It is also possible, after a certain period, the city/muni has reported the violation to the National drivers registery - (probably not). You can get answers to these questions by calling the Caliofornia MV and see what they say what happens if you fail to pay a parking ticket. The muni/city can also, now that they know where you are, file a civil case against you - in which case its $100 plus court costs and statute fees. In NJ I can tell you, don't pay? We can suspend and in many cases, we send you to collections and if you still don't pay file a judgement and garnish wages or tax returns. In this case, a $25 parking ticket becomes a 300 expense. For $100, just pay it and cut your losses.
This would seem to be a case where the best thing to do is wait until after the seven years since last activity is up and then either pay or wait for the franchise tax board to take it.
I appreciate the responses. I just got off he phone with someone at the FTC. He said he does not believe the City of SD is covered under any Federal laws but suggested i contact the State AG. He also suggested i contact the State Treasurer to file a complaint against the investigator who accused me of "bribery" for attempting to negotiate a deletion. I have already fired off a letter to the Deputy City Mgr because i cannot believe the City would rather report neg info than collect $... and to complain about the "customer service" experience i had. I realize this issue is cheezy...which is why i want it over with....but a "paid with collection" to me is as bad as a $100 charge-off.
