In Context is an occasional NewmarketToday news feature providing background and further explanation and analysis on ongoing issues impacting residents.
York Region’s step to remove the court process from speeding tickets is part of a growing trend for local municipalities in how they handle fines.
The regional municipality switched to an Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) for its speeding and red-light camera tickets last month, meaning that residents will not be able to appeal tickets in court. Instead, the system relies on officers hired by municipalities to look over case appeals, superseding the court process.
However, municipalities have increasingly used the system for all kinds of fines. The Town of Newmarket has continued to expand the use of AMPS over the years to save time and costs involved in potential court processes, as have other municipalities in York Region.
“The Town of Newmarket is a leader in adopting the Administrative Monetary Penalty System, a system which allows us to address bylaw infractions and to respond to resident complaints more quickly and efficiently while saving valuable court time,” town AMPS and automated speed enforcement manager Ben Worthington said.
The AMPS system dates back years, used at every level of government. The notice allows governments to issue penalty notices for various infractions, with recipients having the option to either pay the fine or request an appointment to have the matter reviewed by a screening officer. The process aims to be simpler and more efficient for regulatory bodies for smaller infractions versus going through a court process.
The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville adopted the system in May.
“AMPS offers numerous advantages, streamlining how we handle infractions, giving our staff more flexibility in penalty enforcement, and improving resident satisfaction," Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt said in a news release at the time.
Newmarket has used the system since 2019 and expanded its usage over time. It began with parking offences in 2020, slowly expanding to cover most types of offences in the municipality.
“Since the implementation of the AMPS model, town municipal enforcement officers (“MEOs”) have experienced significant efficiencies in their day-to-day operations, including their ability to avoid onerous and often lengthy provincial court processes previously needed for compliance with town bylaws enacted,” Worthington wrote in a 2022 report to council.
In its first three years of implementation, Newmarket saw an increasing number of penalties as more offences were brought into the system — 4,676 in 2020, 6,211 in 2021, and 8,9676 in 2022. Dispute rates in each year were 10.7 per cent, 9.9 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively. As a percentage of the whole, fine cancellation rates have ranged between 3.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent, though that still amounted to hundreds of fine cancellations after requested reviews.
How to fight your fine
Although residents cannot appeal a fine to court under the system, they can still attempt to get a fine cancelled through a screening process.
Under AMPS, a citizen can request a screening review within 30 days of receiving a ticket. The screening officer then reviews the case, responding to the citizen within seven days of the request, either upholding or cancelling the penalty.
A citizen can then escalate one stage further to a hearing review if the screening officer has upheld the fine. This will involve a hearing in which the citizen and enforcement officer will give their sides to a hearing officer. The hearing officer then provides a verbal decision, which is final.
In Newmarket, the first three years of the AMPS system saw 1,713 screening reviews total, with 896 tickets getting upheld and 817 tickets getting cancelled. Beyond that, there were 119 verbal hearings, with 74 upholding the ticket and 21 cancelling the ticket.
After 30 days, a person will no longer be able to dispute a ticket. A person will see late fees if they do not pay past that. If a ticket is not paid, it can escalate to licence plate denial, property tax collection, or other collection measures.
“Our recommendation — when you get a ticket, don’t set it aside, act quickly for the lowest penalty or opportunity to dispute the ticket,” Worthington said.
Newmarket offers an online portal to pay or dispute tickets. You also receive a 25 per cent discount for paying tickets early within the first few days.
These fines also should not hit beyond the pocketbook.
Whether for traffic-related offences or otherwise, offences through the AMPS system do not go on any kind of criminal record. These tickets also cannot result in any demerit points for a driver.
Automated speed enforcement also only captures the car and not the driver and so does not generally impact car insurance rates.
