Montrealers will be getting fewer fines in 2018, but each one is likely to be more expensive.
After abolishing ticket quotas and bonuses for Montreal police officers, Mayor Valérie Plante’s latest budget calls for an increase in revenues from tickets & fines. The new administration hopes the SPVM will collect $206 million from parking, traffic, pedestrian and other violations.
That number surprised the opposition. In 2017, ticket & fine revenues amounted to just $170 million, compared to the budgeted amount of $195 million. When asked about this, executive committee president Benoit Dorais admitted that the current administration plans on reviewing (read: increasing) the price of violations given out by Montreal police.
To justify the planned increase, Dorais explained that Montreal’s ticket prices haven’t been reviewed since 2009. He was not able to specify by how much ticket prices would increase, only saying that the municipal administration is reviewing multiple studies. At the moment, traffic, parking, jay-walking, speeding and other violations currently cost between $40 and $200 per violation.