Swampscott will begin charging $75 for parking tickets after town officials discovered that a Select Board-approved increase from last year was never implemented.
Connors told the Select Board on Tuesday that town staff discovered the board had voted in April 2025 to raise parking fines. The board had also voted in 2023 to increase fines for illegal parking at town beaches.
“Upon finding that out, I talked with Gino (Cresta), who was the TA at the time, and the Chief and there was not a clear understanding as to why that was not changed immediately,” Connors said, adding that he wants to improve the town’s implementation process to prevent similar oversights.
Select Board member Mary Ellen Fletcher said “the job didn’t get done last year,” joking that the town would have to call everyone who received a ticket over the past 15 months and tell them, “By the way, you owe another $50.”
“It was 15 months of not charging correctly,” said Select Board Vice Chair Danielle Leonard. “That’s a performance issue.”
Connors said police officers’ ticket books still list the fine as $25. Effective immediately, officers will handwrite the updated $75 fine on each citation until new ticket books are printed.
“The next round will say $75,” Connors said. “The officer will be signing the notation by hand and will be signing the ticket.”
Connors also said any signs that list the incorrect fine “should be removed.”
Swampscott Police Chief Ruben Quesada presented the Select Board last meeting with information on issued citations and violations.
Quesada did also note some discrepancies around town, such as how one side of Columbia Street has resident stickers only while the other side requires recreation stickers. Lt. Brendan Reen also noted that there may be confusion “when someone sees ‘resident’ they feel like ‘I’m a resident of Swampscott, I can park anywhere I see resident.’”
On Humphrey Street, the even side of the road has a one-hour parking limit, while the waterside is set to two hours.
Select Board Chair Katie Phelan said that the board knows “parking is broken,” but she asked if there’s an overarching authority that may have a suggested plan for zone parking or other enforcement moving forward.
Select Board Member Ted Dooley said the Metropolitan Area Planning Council was on retainer in 2018, and the town has a study from then that can provide “some general things the board should look at.” He also suggested looking at the budget for next year to potentially apply for another grant with the council for an updated, hollistic parking review.
“We anticipate being in front of the board on the 18th with a plan on how we can look at residential parking, for you all to reply back to and provide feedback and say ‘you’re going in a good direction or you’re not,’” Connors said. “It would be a significant change if we’re talking about zone parking, for example. We want to bring that before you so you can talk about it and maybe come back to it a meeting after it so the public would have an opportunity (to discuss.)”
