Commission On Disabilities Losing Revenue From Decline in Handicap Parking Tickets

By Jeff Fish 

At Tuesday night’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting in Sharon, Commission on Disabilities Chair Jeffrey Jacobson gave a report on the decreasing amount of revenue collected from handicap parking tickets that go to things like college scholarships, funds for children with disabilities, and making sure that the landscape in Sharon, like sidewalks, are made safe for disabled people.

Finance Director Bill Fowler said the biggest reason that revenues from the tickets have gone down over the past several years that include less people getting tickets, since fees were raised to $200 from $50. and the town having “to forgive a lot of tickets during [construction on] Post Office Square because signs were down.”

In an interview after the meeting, Fowler explained that the Commission on Disabilities’ spending has remained the same even as revenues have come down, causing them to rely more on the money that has rolled over each year. Now it is starting to catch up with them, he said.  

Other major issues include the town “to forgive [probably 85 percent] of the tickets issued during construction on Post Office Square and the amount of out-of-state tickets that go unpaid.

While the town gets reimbursed by some states for the tickets, that is not the case with all them, said Fowler, who pointed out a particular problem with Rhode Island, which still allows its residents to re-register their cars with outstanding tickets from other states.

“We have a lot of out-of state tickets right now,” said Fowler. “There’s one individual with 23 tickets in Rhode Island.”

Even in-state tickets can take 3 to 5 years to reclaim because people generally don’t pay until they get a warning that they won’t be able to register their car. So while the town will eventually get that money, it is an unreliable revenue source.  

Selectman Walter Joe Roach said he would speak to the Chief of Police to “ask if we’re looking at as many handicap spots as we used to.”