Winston-Salem Parking Ticket: Fines, Appeals, and Penalties

A parking ticket in Winston-Salem is a civil penalty, not a criminal charge, so it won’t touch your criminal record or add points to your license. You have 60 days from the date on the citation to pay or appeal. Miss that window and a $25 late penalty is added automatically, and unpaid tickets can eventually lead to a wheel lock, a tow, or the state intercepting your tax refund.

How Much You Owe

Most common violations carry a $30 base fine under City Code Section 42-175. That covers overtime parking, parking too far from the curb, parking over the lines, parking at the wrong angle, stopping in a prohibited space, and blocking a driveway or alley. Safety-related violations cost more: $50 for improper use of a curb loading zone, parking near a fire hydrant, or obstructing fire or sanitation vehicles. Parking certain vehicles on a front lawn is $25. Unauthorized parking in a handicap space is $300, by far the steepest fine on the schedule.¹

One rule catches people off guard: every hour your vehicle sits in the same spot after receiving a ticket counts as a separate violation. Leave the car in a one-hour downtown zone all afternoon and you can collect a stack of $30 tickets by evening.¹ Move the vehicle as soon as you find the citation on your windshield.

The $300 handicap penalty is a local civil fine and sits apart from the separate state-law infraction, which carries a penalty between $100 and $250.¹

How to Pay

The fastest way is the city’s online payment portal. You’ll need the citation number printed on the ticket to pull it up, and you can pay with a credit or debit card.²

For in-person payment, the Revenue Division is in the Bryce A. Stuart Municipal Building at 100 East First Street, Suite 121, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The building has a drive-through window and a night depository for after-hours drop-offs, and you can also mail a payment to the same address.³ Ask for a receipt if you pay in person and hold onto it until the ticket clears.

How to Appeal

If the ticket was issued in error, Winston-Salem has a formal appeal process. Start on the city’s parking violation appeal page, or call the Revenue Division at 336-727-8000 for guidance.²³

Lead with a clear factual explanation of why the citation was wrong, and attach photographs if you have them. Pictures of a missing or obscured sign, a broken meter, or your vehicle properly within the lines carry real weight. A hearing officer compares what you submit against the enforcement officer’s documentation and issues a written decision.

File quickly. The 60-day clock keeps running while your appeal is pending, so a late filing can leave you facing the $25 penalty even if your appeal is still being reviewed when the deadline passes.

If You Ignore the Ticket

Unpaid tickets escalate on a predictable schedule, and the costs compound.

Late Penalty at 60 Days

If the ticket isn’t paid within 60 days of issuance, a $25 late penalty is added automatically, along with any court costs. A $30 overtime ticket becomes at least $55.¹

Boot or Tow at Three Tickets

Once you have three or more unpaid tickets that are at least 90 days overdue, the city can put a wheel lock on your vehicle or tow and impound it. The boot removal fee is $50 on top of every outstanding fine and late penalty.⁴ Removing or tampering with the boot yourself is illegal and adds to the charges. If the car is towed instead of booted, you’ll also owe towing and daily storage fees, which is how two or three ignored $30 tickets turn into several hundred dollars to get the vehicle back.

State Tax Refund Intercept

For debts that stay delinquent, the city can submit the balance to the North Carolina Setoff Debt Collection program, which lets it pull the amount owed from your state income tax refund or lottery winnings. The debt must be at least $50 to qualify, and a $15 collection assistance fee is added. You’ll receive written notice before the intercept with 30 days to request a hearing to contest the debt.⁵

Credit Impact Through Collections

The ticket itself won’t appear on your credit report. The three major credit bureaus no longer include this type of public record. The risk is if the city sends the debt to a third-party collection agency: once a collector reports the account, it can stay on your credit report for seven years from the original delinquency date.⁶

Current scoring models like FICO Score 8 ignore collection accounts with an original balance under $100, so a single unpaid ticket sent to collections may not dent your score. Older models used by some mortgage lenders don’t have that carve-out, and multiple unpaid tickets that push the total above $100 lose the protection under any model.⁶

Fighting a $300 Handicap Citation

Because the handicap fine is ten times a routine ticket, it’s worth looking closely at the space itself. Under federal ADA standards, a car-accessible space must have a sign showing the international symbol of accessibility mounted at least 60 inches above the ground, and van-accessible spaces need a second sign identifying them as such.⁷ A missing or improperly mounted sign is strong grounds for an appeal.

Take photos immediately. Property owners often correct signage once a complaint comes in, and by the time your appeal is reviewed those photos may be the only evidence that the space wasn’t properly marked when you parked there.

1
Municode. Winston-Salem Code of Ordinances – Section 42-175 Civil Penalties for Violations of Parking Ordinances
2
City of Winston-Salem. I Want To
3
City of Winston-Salem. Revenue
4
Municode. Winston-Salem Code of Ordinances – Section 42-176 Immobilization or Impoundment of Vehicles Having Unpaid Parking Tickets
5
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 105A – Setoff Debt Collection Act
6
Experian. Do Parking Tickets Affect Your Credit Score
7
ADA.gov. Accessible Parking Spaces