I am dropping this letter in the mailbox the next time I go down to the lobby. I refuse to be trampled by an incompetent city bureaucracy, especially one that can’t even pay the fees for its own PO Box and causes hundreds of payments to be lost in the mail, inflicting this same problem on many others who happened to park on the wrong side of the street during street cleaning.

Twenty bucks is a lot of money in hard times. It’s a doctor’s office copay, a tank of gas, or several days’ worth of food. I’m not giving in without a fight.

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3/19/2009

Dear City of St. Louis Parking Violations Bureau:

I am writing in response to the “Final Warning of Delinquent Parking Violation” notice I received from you on 3/16/09, regarding ticket [redacted].

Why are you charging me a $30.00 late fee on a $10.00 ticket that, according to my records and yours, I have already paid?

The ticket was issued on 1/14/09 and my check came to you on 2/1/09. According to my bank, you did not process it until 2/18/09. If I was a moment late in doing my part paying the $10.00, I will gladly pay you the first $10.00 late fee. Yet this notice indicates that since I failed to respond to the ticket greater than 45 days after issuance, I have to pay a fine of three times the original ticket amount. I DID RESPOND. It’s even on the notice that I paid the $10.00 and my check was cashed. It’s not my fault you took over two weeks to process it, but you DID receive it. Please amend your records to reflect this.

I received the “second notice” warning just a day or two after I mailed the $10.00 check. Yes, I ignored it. I ignored it because I had already sent in my check and considered the matter settled.

After receiving this Final Warning, I called the information line. The woman there informed me that the $30.00 is a late fee on the first late fee that I did not know I owed. You want me to pay a second late fee because I am late in paying the first late fee for a check I had already mailed you?

This letter is my formal contest of this unnecessary fine.

You should have just sent me a separate bill and explanation for the first late fee. That would have been another $10.00 and we would be all settled.

I have enclosed a check for the first $10.00 late fee that you did not tell me I still owed after my initial payment. That will bring my total payment to $20.00, covering the original cost of the ticket and the first late fee. I do not believe I should have to pay the additional $20.00 as a fine on the first late fee.

Respectfully,

Rebekah [redacted]