The number of parking tickets handed out by Prince Albert bylaw officers is down significantly compared to one year ago, but it’s not because motorists have improved their behavior.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, bylaw officers wrote 365 parking tickets, a steep drop from the 845 tickets written during the same period in 2017.
City of Prince Albert bylaw manager Suzanne Stubbs said staff vacation time and the high number of calls for other areas contributed to the decline in numbers.
“It’s nothing to do with a lack of people not parking properly,” Stubbs explained. “(It’s) just having fewer staff because it was the (summer) holidays and other calls coming in, and not having a lot of time to drive around proactively, that’s why.”
Stubbs added that it would be nice if the drop in parking tickets was caused by better parking practices. With the bylaw department back up to full strength, she said there should be a sharp rise in the number of parking tickets handed out.
“It’s just been a really busy summer,” she said. “You’ll probably see those numbers go up here a little bit now that everybody’s back from holidays.”
In total, bylaw officers dealt with 360 calls for service during the month of August. Nearly half (43.3 per cent) of those calls were animal control calls. Bylaw officers also seized 17 vehicles for unpaid parking violations. Since Jan. 1, bylaw has towed 80 vehicles for unpaid tickets.
Ward 2 (which includes Little Red, Nordale and Hazeldell) and Ward 3 were the two busiest areas of the city. Each ward accounted for 22 per cent of all bylaw calls.
