The Homewood Police Department is offering a citation amnesty program to anyone with overdue parking, red light or local ordinance citations that are sent to collections before Sept. 1.
The one-time program, which the department announced last week, will cut in half the remaining balance on an individual’s overdue citations if they pay in full before Nov. 30. Only overdue tickets are eligible for the discount and no extensions beyond the Nov. 30 cutoff will be granted.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for those who have had tickets to pay them off at a very nice discount,” Mayor Rich Hofeld said, adding that he’d been told that some people have lost their licenses or been unable to obtain driver’s licenses due to their overdue citations.
“Here’s an opportunity for them to clear their record and proceed with some normality in their day-to-day affairs,” he said.
Hofeld said he didn’t know how many overdue citations were eligible for the discount or how much in uncollected fines were outstanding, but that he hoped people take advantage of the unique opportunity to get their debts off the books.
He said it was the first time in his 21 years as mayor that he could recall Homewood offering an amnesty on citations.
“The police department had come forward with the idea, discussed it with the village manager and it was just a way to benefit people, and also to get some of these long outstanding violations paid, off the record, adjudicated properly,” Hofeld said.
Police Chief William Alcott did not respond to a request for comment on the amnesty program.
Payments for overdue citations that were made prior to the announcement of the amnesty period will not be refunded, according to a statement on the village’s website.
To make a payment on an overdue citation, call Municipal Collections Service Incorporated at 708-613-2062.
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Or for more information on the program, call the Homewood Police Department at 708-206-3420, extension 0.