Denver's half-off parking ticket deal ends today. Drivers have paid less than 1% of the $74 million it covers

If you have an old, unpaid Denver parking ticket, today, Saturday, Oct. 31, is the last day to pay it at half price.

The city's parking amnesty cuts both the original fine and the late fees by 50% on eligible tickets issued before May 10, 2026, CBS Colorado reported. There is no application. Drivers look up their citation, plate or vehicle number through the city's pay a parking ticket page, and eligible tickets show the reduced amount. After today, unpaid tickets go back to the full amount owed, the city said.

Why it matters: unpaid tickets grow. Late fees pile on, and the city says vehicles with three or more unpaid citations can be booted. Denver's transportation department told CBS Colorado it booted about 300 more vehicles from January through September than in the same months last year.

Uptake has been small

The city offered the deal to more than 32,000 drivers whose unpaid tickets add up to more than $74 million, 9News reported on Oct. 30, citing records it obtained. Letters began going out in mid-September. As of Oct. 26, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) had received about 8,400 payments worth a little more than $726,000, or less than 1% of the total, a spokesperson told the station.

According to the same report, records show the program could have cost the city up to $20,000 to run, and a DOTI spokesperson said city leaders expected it to bring in only a small fraction of what is owed.

9News also reported that some of the tickets now eligible had grown sharply with late fees, in one case from $350 to $910, and that some drivers said they could not get answers from the city about disputes they had filed.

What our records add: a year of trouble with ticket disputes

The amnesty follows a rough stretch for Denver's ticket system, and it has come up at the Council repeatedly this year.

• Online disputes went away, then came back. At a May 20 Transportation and Infrastructure Committee briefing, a DOTI official told members that since late summer 2025 the only way to dispute a parking ticket had been to show up in person for a hearing. The official called that "not sustainable" for the city and said the department was building a new online program, then on track for late summer. The city relaunched online disputes in August, Denverite reported.
• A Council budget priority. On April 27, Kevin Flynn (District 2) presented his 2027 budget priorities to the Budget and Policy Committee, including restoring basic services that had been cut. His list named parking ticket magistrates, which he described as a way to protect revenue, along with motor vehicle offices and street paving.
• Where the money for the new program comes from. At the Sept. 24 budget hearing on transportation funds, a DOTI presenter said the parking operations line in the Transportation and Mobility Fund pays for the citation dispute program "we just launched," and that the program had handled about 1,000 citations in its first week. That same fund is the subject of a new bill from Shontel Lewis and Flor Alvidrez, 26-1654, which we wrote about Friday.

Our search of Council meeting transcripts and legislation found no ordinance creating the amnesty. It appears to have been set up administratively, and we found no recorded Council vote on it.

What's next

• Tonight: The 50% discount ends. Eligible tickets left unpaid return to the full amount, according to the city.
• Nov. 4, 1 p.m.: The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee takes up the Transportation and Mobility Fund bill, 26-1654, at its meeting.
• Questions about a ticket: The city's parking page lists how to pay or dispute a citation.