A Multnomah County parking ticket gives you 30 days from the citation date to respond, and you have three choices: pay the bail amount printed on the front, pay and submit a written explanation for a judge to review, or request a hearing to contest the ticket. Miss the deadline and the court can enter a judgment against you, send the debt to collections, and eventually authorize booting or towing of your vehicle. Every citation in the county, no matter which agency wrote it, is processed through the Multnomah County Circuit Court.
What the Ticket Will Cost
The bail amount on the front of the citation is what you owe if you just want to pay and be done. Fines run from modest to serious:
- Overtime meter or overtime parking: $44 first offense, $50 second, $70 third
- No meter receipt: $65
- No parking anytime: $85
- Blocked driveway: $95
- Fire hydrant: $155
- Disabled or wheelchair zone, first offense: $165
- Blocking an ADA ramp: $215
- Abandoned vehicle: $285
- Disabled permit misuse: $440
Tickets written in designated event districts during event times carry a $50 surcharge on top of the normal fine, so a $65 no-receipt ticket becomes $115 during a Blazers game or major downtown concert.1Portland.gov. Common Parking Violations and Fine Amounts
Your Three Response Options
The back of the citation lays out three choices. Pick one and act before 5:00 PM on the 30th day after the citation date.2Portland.gov. Pay and/or Contest a Parking Ticket
Pay the Bail Amount
Paying the amount listed closes the case. When you pay through the Oregon Judicial Department’s ePay system, you’re entering a no-contest plea and waiving any right to a trial or reduced fine.3Oregon Judicial Department. OJD Courts ePay If the ticket was valid and you want it behind you, this is the fastest route.
Pay and Submit a Written Explanation
You can send a written explanation to the court along with full payment of the bail. A judge reviews your letter and decides whether to reduce or dismiss the fine, and if the judge rules in your favor the court mails you a refund for the difference. The catch: this option waives your right to a hearing. The judge decides on your letter alone, and that decision is final.2Portland.gov. Pay and/or Contest a Parking Ticket
Request a Hearing
If you believe the ticket was issued in error, check the Option 3 box on the back, fill in your current mailing address, and mail or deliver the citation to the Parking Citation Office. The court will mail a hearing notice with the date, time, and instructions for appearing.4Oregon Judicial Department. How Do I Plead Not Guilty and Request a Hearing
How to Submit Your Response
Online
The fastest way to pay is through OJD Courts ePay. You’ll need the citation number, which starts with “HA” and sits near the top of the ticket. Wait at least three business days after the citation date before trying to pay online, because the court needs time to enter the ticket into its system. There’s a $1.50 processing fee per payment.5Oregon Judicial Department. Pay a Parking Citation Online payment only works for Option 1. If you want to submit a written explanation or request a trial, you can’t use ePay.3Oregon Judicial Department. OJD Courts ePay
By Mail
For any of the three options, mail the completed citation (option checked, address filled in) with any payment or explanation to:
Multnomah County Circuit Court
Parking Citation Office
P.O. Box 78
Portland, OR 972075Oregon Judicial Department. Pay a Parking Citation
Send it early enough to arrive before day 30. Certified mail gives you proof the court received your response if the timing is ever disputed.
In Person
The Multnomah County Central Courthouse takes payments and hearing requests at its service windows during standard business hours, and staff give you a physical receipt. If your vehicle has already been booted or towed for unpaid citations, you have to pay in person with guaranteed funds. Cashier’s check or money order only. The court won’t take personal checks or credit cards once the vehicle has been booted or towed.2Portland.gov. Pay and/or Contest a Parking Ticket
What a Hearing Looks Like
Parking hearings in Multnomah County are currently held by video. You appear from a computer or smartphone, as do the judge, the issuing officer, and the court clerk. If you don’t have a device with a camera, you can go to the courthouse and staff will set you up with equipment, but the hearing itself still runs virtually.4Oregon Judicial Department. How Do I Plead Not Guilty and Request a Hearing
The judge hears from you and from the officer who wrote the ticket. You can submit exhibits like photos of signage, meter receipts, or proof your permit was valid, following the instructions in your hearing notice. If attending live isn’t feasible, you can file a trial by declaration, which is a sworn written statement the judge reads in place of your testimony. Declarations must reach the court by 5:00 PM at least three business days before your hearing date.4Oregon Judicial Department. How Do I Plead Not Guilty and Request a Hearing
Before deciding whether to fight the ticket, you can view photos of the violation online using your citation number, citation date, and license plate number. Photos can take up to three days to appear. If the photo clearly shows the violation, a hearing probably won’t go your way.2Portland.gov. Pay and/or Contest a Parking Ticket
What Happens If You Ignore It
Missing the 30-day deadline starts a chain of consequences that gets more expensive at every step.
Once the citation is delinquent, the court can enter a judgment against you without a hearing and impose a fine up to the maximum allowed by law, plus costs and assessments.2Portland.gov. Pay and/or Contest a Parking Ticket Multnomah County uses a specific statutory procedure: if you don’t appear within the time allowed and don’t respond within 60 days after the court mails you a notice, a judge can convict you based solely on the citation and whatever other evidence the court finds appropriate.6Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 153 – Violations and Fines
The court can also assign the delinquent citation to a private collection agency, where collection fees and interest start piling on top of the original fine. At that point you’re no longer dealing only with the court. You’re dealing with a debt collector, and the balance can climb well past the original ticket.
If you keep ignoring the matter, the court can issue an order requiring you to appear and explain why you shouldn’t be held in contempt. That order comes by certified mail, and if mail delivery fails you’ll be personally served. Failing to appear after being served can result in an arrest warrant.6Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 153 – Violations and Fines The warrant isn’t for the parking violation itself; it’s for ignoring repeated court orders.
When Your Car Gets Booted or Towed
Vehicles with unpaid parking citations and fees totaling more than $500, or six or more delinquent citations, become eligible for booting or towing by PBOT.7Portland.gov. Booting, Explained A boot locks one of your wheels in place, and you cannot legally remove it yourself.
Once booted, you generally have up to 36 hours to settle the balance with the court before PBOT tows the vehicle to an impound lot. There is currently no additional fee for the boot itself, but you have to pay all outstanding fines in guaranteed funds at the Circuit Court before the boot comes off.7Portland.gov. Booting, Explained If the vehicle is towed, you also owe towing and daily storage fees, which add up fast.
A handful of $44 overtime tickets, each with late fees and collection costs stacked on, can easily cross the $500 threshold. Handling the first citation is dramatically cheaper than handling the aftermath.
Credit, DMV, and CDL Impacts
Unpaid parking tickets won’t directly appear on your credit report. Under the National Consumer Assistance Plan adopted by the three major credit bureaus, debts that didn’t arise from a contract or agreement to pay are excluded, and parking tickets fall in that category. If the debt is sent to collections and the collector reports it inaccurately, you may need to dispute the entry.
Your vehicle registration is a more immediate concern. The Oregon DMV can suspend driving privileges for failure to appear as required by court, and the suspension stays in place until the court notifies the DMV that the matter is resolved. Failing to appear on a parking citation that escalates to a show-cause order could trigger this, though it’s more common with moving violations.
For commercial driver’s license holders, standard parking tickets are excluded from the federal requirement to report traffic convictions to your employer within 30 days, and a parking citation sitting in collections won’t affect your CSA score. If a parking matter escalates into a failure-to-appear charge, that’s a different situation entirely and no longer a parking issue.