Here's a friendly little heads-up from your pals at Unfair Park: If you've received a citation from the Dallas Police Department and haven't taken care of it, you might want to settle up sooner than later. That's because the city's this close to signing a contract with Dallas County that'll ensure drivers with unpaid tickets can't get their cars registered until they pay up.
On Monday, the city council's Public Safety committee will be briefed on the Scofflaw Vehicle Registration Denial Program, the result of three months' worth of discussions between the city and county. The committee's PowerPoint presentation won't be posted to the city's Web site till tomorrow, but First Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans tells Unfair Park this afternoon that the decision stems from a municipal courts efficiency study done earlier this year, which, as Evans says, recommended establishing the program to "reduce, if not eliminate, the backlog on our dockets." The study stemmed from an April audit that revealed the municipal courts are losing a small fortune on unpaid citations.
Dallas County actually began denying registration to drivers with unpaid fines back in February; Garland's doing the same thing. Drivers with outstanding fines will wind up on the county's wanted Web site.
Evans says the program is expected to net the city $250,000 a year,
after the county's paid for actually administering the program. (He
says the county will charge about $5 per ticket processed.) Evans also
says that a single unpaid ticket will result in the county making sure
you can't get your ride registered.
"If it goes well Monday -- and several council members have already
asked why we don't do this already -- it'll go before the full council on
December 9," Evans says. "Then we'll finalize the contracts with the
county and go from there." So pay now. You've been warned.
