SEATTLE — The city of Seattle announced Wednesday that it is voiding approximately 100,000 parking tickets issued between Sept. 5, 2021 and April 5, 2022.
About 100,000 additional individuals who received and already paid for parking tickets issued during this period will be receiving refunds beginning the week of June 6.
These parking tickets are being dismissed or refunded after the city recently discovered that Parking Enforcement Officers were not issued the proper commissions granting them the authority to issue tickets.
Until September 2021, parking enforcement officers were employees within the Seattle Police Department.
These officers transitioned into the Seattle Department of Transportation beginning in September, but were not granted the special commission permits issued to personnel who perform law enforcement responsibilities outside of SPD.
After Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration learned the commissions were not properly issued, it used a directive to SPD and SDOT to complete the commissions for parking enforcement officers.
Completed commissions for all parking enforcement officers in the city were delivered by April 5. Any parking tickets issued after that date are not eligible for cancellation requests.
Traffic camera tickets issued from September 2021 to April 2022 are also ineligible to be canceled or refunded, as they were issued by the Seattle Police Department.
Drivers can check if a parking ticket they received qualifies to be dismissed or refunded on a website set up by the city here: https://seattlecourts.powerappsportals.us/.