Parking tickets have long been a big moneymaker for the City of Ottawa, and now more private companies and public institutions are cashing in than ever before.

When you receive a city-issued parking infraction notice at a private lot, a significant portion of the fine you pay may be going to the company or institution that owns the property. With tens of thousands of parking tickets handed out on private property each year, that adds up to millions of dollars — a windfall split among just a handful of companies and institutions.

From the beginning of 2013 to the end of the first quarter of 2018, the City of Ottawa raked in more than $18.6 million from around 330,000 parking tickets issued at parking lots owned or overseen by just 14 private companies and six public institutions deputized by the city as "private parking enforcement agencies" (PPEAs).

Depending on the offence — unauthorized parking, parking in a fire route or parking in a disabled spot — that revenue is split roughly 50/50 between the city and the PPEAs.

Hospitals, universities

To qualify, PPEAs need to issue a minimum of 2,600 tickets per year, and the employees who issue the tickets must complete a training session.

Institutions on the city's list of PPEAs include The Ottawa Hospital, Carleton University and Algonquin College.

The private companies include GardaWorld, Capital Security & Investigations and Park Safe. It's not clear whether those companies, which are under contract to patrol private lots on behalf of the property owners, keep a share of the revenue or hand it all over.

Ottawa's Macdonald-Cartier International Airport also issued City of Ottawa tickets.

Among Ottawa's top-earning PPEAs are Response Safety Security & Investigations, which patrols more than 50 Ottawa addresses and collected just over $2 million from 2013 to the end of the first quarter of 2018, and the University of Ottawa, which accrued about $1.28 million over the same period.

Twenty private parking enforcement agencies share in the revenue from parking fines, keeping 48 per cent of the revenue. The city keeps the rest. (Laura Osman/CBC)

Growing list

There are actually more than 100 registered PPEAs, but only those 20 share revenue with the city. Of those, some are just getting started: Ottawa Community Housing and CHEO only began collecting revenue from parking tickets within the last year.

The number of PPEAs that share revenue with the city has grown steadily in recent years, from 12 in 2013 to the current 20.

But why are City of Ottawa tickets issued for parking infractions that occur on private property?

The bylaw empowering PPEAs came about in an effort to homogenize what was a confusing patchwork of private parking enforcement. The process for paying or disputing the tickets was often complicated, frustrating residents and tourists alike.

There was another problem: According to a city document from 2011, some privately issued tickets so closely resembled city-issued ones that roughly 10 people per day would show up at City Hall to pay or dispute them.

Parking on private property without paying can net a $95 fine, or $75 if it's paid within 15 days, according to the City of Ottawa's website. Unpaid tickets are forwarded to the Ministry of Transportation, which can deny licence plate renewals.