Alexandria is cracking down on thousands of drivers who have overdue parking tickets.
Starting this month, delinquent ticket payers won’t be able to renew their car registrations at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles until they settle their parking debts and pay an extra $20.
Virginians are required to renew their car registration every one or two years, depending on the option they select.
The DMV’s Vehicle Registration Withholding Program already is being used in some other Virginia jurisdictions, according to Alexandria officials.
Until now, Alexandria had been using the program only to collect unpaid personal property taxes.
About 9,900 unpaid parking tickets were issued in Alexandria between July 1, 2006, and Nov. 10, 2007.
Cashing in on them would net the city $625,000 in a tight budget year.
Alexandria officials are considering several other parking and transportation initiatives to help bolster the city’s bottom line.
City Manager James Hartmann’s proposed fiscal 2009 budget includes a recommendation to raise Alexandria’s parking meter fees for the first time in 15 years.
The hourly parking rate in the lower King Street portion of Old Town would jump from 75 cents to $1, and the rate in upper Old Town would climb from 50 cents to $1.
The change would generate an additional $700,000 a year in revenue.
The city also is considering raising the fare for its DASH commuter bus from $1 to $1.25, another fee that not been changed in more than 15 years.
