Maritime cities make more than $334K from winter parking ban tickets

A messy view of a downtown Dartmouth, N.S., street in early February 2024. (Source: Sean Mott/CTV News Atlantic)

Winter in the Maritimes might have been warmer than expected, but there was still plenty of snow and slush from December to March, which meant there were also plenty of overnight parking bans and, for some cities, plenty of tickets and towed vehicles.

Cities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island all declared numerous overnight parking bans during and after major snow dumps, resulting in thousands of issued tickets worth roughly more than $334,930.

“During the overnight winter parking ban, vehicles cannot be parked on the street and must be parked off-street,” said Laura Wright, communications spokesperson for Halifax, in an email. “If a vehicle is left on the street, or is hanging out of a driveway into the sidewalk while the ban is being enforced, it could be ticketed and/or towed at the owner's expense.

“Parking off-street allows snow clearing equipment to maneuver as efficiently as possible to clear snow and create safer road conditions for all.”

Halifax led the way for the most tickets issued this past winter with 6,119 across 11 separate days between Jan. 8 and Feb. 25. Halifax tickets cost $50 apiece, meaning the city collected roughly $305,950 from drivers.

“Money from tickets doesn’t directly fund the winter operations budget,” Wright said. “Winter operations has an annual budget funded from the tax rate. While ticket money collected helps to fund the annual budgets, it isn’t directly allocated to winter operations.”

According to the 2023-2024 budget, Halifax carved out $2,469,900 for snow removal, up $206,600 from the previous budget.

Halifax also towed 30 vehicles during the parking bans.

Northeast of Halifax, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, which suffered heavy snowfall earlier this year, issued 180 parking ban tickets and towed 97 vehicles by the end of February, according to the municipality. The first-time fine for failing to comply with winter parking regulations is $86.60, meaning drivers gave Cape Breton roughly $15,588.

Across the Northumberland Strait from Cape Breton, Charlottetown issued relatively few tickets compared to its Nova Scotia counterparts, but it did remove hundreds of vehicles. According to the city, it towed 457 vehicles between Nov. 15 and April 2.

The city charges $50 per ticket, which means it made roughly $700 through the 14 tickets it issued. That money goes to the general revenue for the city.

Police at New Brunswick’s capital, Fredericton, issued 256 by-law tickets and requested 28 vehicles be towed between Oct. 1 and April, according to Megan Barker, research and communications coordinator with the Fredericton Police Force.

Through the $50 tickets, the city made roughly $12,800.

The City of Saint John says it didn't declare any overnight parking bans this winter due to a lack of snowfall.