Jefferson City leaders to address parking enforcement and fines
Jazsmin Halliburton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Jefferson City leaders will meet Wednesday evening to discuss parking within the city and increased parking fines.
City leaders are set to meet at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
In January, the Jefferson City Council approved a parking fine hike with an 8-2 vote. Parking violations were approved to be $25 across the board. A fine for metered parking was previously $6.
According to the work session agenda, the proposed rate structure will be discussed for on-street parking, off-street parking and the parking garage being built on Madison Street.
ABC 17 News records requested parking ticket numbers, which showed a significant jump in expired meter parking tickets this January compared to January 2025.
From Jan. 6 to Feb. 2, 2025, 182 tickets were issued. During that same time period in 2026, 1,022 tickets were issued.
In January 2025, an average of 26 tickets were given per day per officer over seven enforcement days. In January 2026, 25.55 tickets were issued per day per two officers over 20 enforcement days.
According to Jefferson City spokesperson Molly Bryan, several factors can contribute to citation numbers. Such factors include weather, staffing, downtown events, legislative sessions, protests, etc.
Parking enforcement operations in January 2025 were limited to approximately seven full days as severe winter weather and staffing shortages impacted city services, says Bryan.
A major snow and ice event during the first week of the month forced the city to close operations on Jan. 6 and delay openings on Jan. 10. Parking personnel were diverted from their typical duties to assist with emergency weather response across the city.
Staff members typically assigned to parking enforcement were reassigned to clear snow and ice from sidewalks, parking garages, corner lots and crosswalks. These emergency response duties extended to various city-owned facilities throughout the month. Due to these reassignments, parking enforcement was not the primary focus for city staff during much of January 2025.
The department also faced significant staffing constraints throughout the month. Records indicate that only one officer was available for parking enforcement during January 2025, which contributed to the reduced number of full enforcement days.