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Homewood public safety committee proposes higher fines for repeat ordinance violators, raises parking penalty to $50
Summary
The Homewood Public Safety Committee debated and approved raising the schedule of fines for ordinance violations to allow penalties up to $500 and set a $50 standard fine for parking violations, while keeping fire lane and handicap penalties higher.
The Homewood Public Safety Committee on Oct. 6 moved to increase the city’s schedule of fines for selected ordinance and parking violations, allowing municipal judges discretion to impose fines up to $500 for repeat ordinance offenses and setting routine parking fines at $50.
Laura Roberts, the court administrator, told the committee she had reviewed parking and ordinance fine schedules across nearby cities and found Homewood’s fines low. "I'm proposing asking that you guys include some language in an ordinance that just says that our ordinance violations can be fined from $1 up to 500," Roberts said. She said the current $100 cap and low parking fines had little deterrent effect on repeat offenders.
Committee members discussed enforcement logistics and existing schedules. Some historic code language from 2016 and 2017 appeared inconsistent with current practice; staff said some code updates had not been posted in the city’s code repository. The municipal judge (unnamed in the transcript) told staff he is flexible with indigent defendants and that hardship affidavits and community service remain options.
After extended committee discussion about graduated fines and which specific ordinances would change, the committee agreed on a template for moving forward: set routine parking fines at $50 (an increase from current practice), permit judges discretion to levy ordinance fines up to $500 for repeat or egregious violations, and keep higher penalties for blocking fire hydrants or parking in handicap spaces (the transcript references $250 for fire lane and $500 for handicap violations).
Motion and vote: A motion to amend the parking fine to $50 carried in committee; a separate motion to set ordinance violation fines in the schedule from $1 up to $500 and permit judicial discretion also passed. Committee votes on these items were recorded as ayes with no opposition.
Committee members instructed staff and the city attorney to identify the specific ordinances that must be amended, prepare draft ordinance language and reconcile the schedule of fines with state requirements for certain traffic‑related citations. Staff said some violations (traffic UTC citations) remain governed by state AOC schedules and cannot be changed via local parking ordinance.
