UPDATE (2:30 PM): The City Attorney's office has decided NOT to refund the parking tickets issued by unauthorized officers. In a statement (via the Denver Post), the city said "after a citation is paid, each case is permanently closed and is not subject to reversal. Denver Public Works Right of Way Enforcement will adhere to this opinion and no refunds will be issued for the citations in question. "
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The City of Denver may refund $1.2 million in parking tickets after an investigation showed that they were issued by non-authorized agents.
On Monday night, CBS 4 Denver broke news that the Denver City Attorney's office was scrutinizing 40,000-50,000 parking tickets that were issued by agents who had not been authorized by the city's Manager of Public Safety.
As CBS reported at the time, Vehicle Control Agents Paul Lucero and William Shirland wrote thousands of parking tickets over a period of two years despite not being properly designated by the city as "Special Police Officers."
As such, the city was considering whether it was legally obligated to refund the roughly $1.2 million in parking fines collected from tickets issued by Lucero and Shirland.
The Denver Daily News reports that the Denver City Attorney's office met Wednesday to discuss the matter. The Daily News also mentioned that the city may argue that it can keep the money on the grounds that the recipients of the tickets effectively admitted their guilt by signing and paying the fine.
The Denver Public Works Right of Way Enforcement says it's awaiting final advisement from the City Attorney's office before deciding whether to refund the tickets in question.
Meanwhile, Denver mayoral candidate James Mejia has entered the fray, saying Wednesday that the city should repay the parking tickets and launch "a full performance audit of policies, processes and procedures within the department."
Mejia also pointed out that the potential million-dollar hit comes at a time when some are projecting Denver's budget deficit to $100 million by 2012.
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