All Over Albany

About that surcharge on Albany parking tickets

The city actually gets half of that $15 "state" surcharge.

So when we were looking at the cost of parking violations around the Capital Region, we noticed that the city of Albany adds a $15 "New York State surcharge" to parking violations that other cities in the region don't charge.

So what's this extra 15 bucks all about?

Jim Van Apeldorn, Director of Albany's Parking Violations Bureau, says the charge is based on a NY state law which, in turn, is based on the 1980 census. Yeah, 1980 -- 28 years ago. Under the law, any city that had more than 100,000 residents in the 1980 census can add the $15 surcharge on all parking tickets. Half of the surcharge goes to the city, the other half goes to New York State.

Here's the thing, though. Albany's population is now under 100,000. But, in accordance with the law (Vehicle and Traffic Article 45 § 1809-a), it's still allowed to collect the surcharge.

So how long does A-Town get to ride this quirk in the code? Well, the law expires in 2009, but what happens after that is still unclear. Apparently city officials are checking to see if they can continue to collect the surcharge.

And let's face it, how often does a tax/charge/fee like this ever go down? We're guessing it will somehow stick around.