St. Louis treasurer voided his own parking tickets

In the past three years, the man who controls parking in the City of St. Louis has forgiven eight of his own parking tickets. 

Parking in the city is the domain of the Treasurer’s Office, an entity that oversees issuing parking tickets as well as operating some pay parking lots and garages around town. Treasurer Adam Layne has taken serious flak in recent weeks for letting some cars rack up thousands of dollars—in some cases tens of thousands of dollars—in unpaid parking tickets with seemingly no consequences. The Treasurer’s Office’s own data indicates that as much as $10.7 million is going uncollected. “The millions of dollars in uncollected parking fines represent a significant loss of revenue for the city,” Comptroller Donna Baringer previously told SLM. 

Layne himself says nothing untoward is happening. Asked about the eight voided or adjudicated tickets, Layne tells SLM that he, like all elected officials in the city, has a hangtag that exempts him from paying meters or fees at city-owned lots. 

“There have been times when I’ve been parked and my hangtag has either not been visible or I’ve forgotten to place it in the rear view, so they’ve been voided. So yes, in the last 5 years there have been 8 instances where I’ve forgotten to place my hangtag,” he says.

Layne added that any official with a hangtag who forgets to place it in sight of a parking enforcement officer will regularly contact his office to have the ticket voided, adding, “As long as they were issued the hangtag we will void the tickets.”

The potentially $640 in parking tickets that Layne forgave his own vehicle is a drop in the bucket. But other city officials say they don’t avail themselves of the same perk. “If it were me, I would pay it,” says Alderman Tom Oldenburg. “If it’s your own fault you forget to put the placard up. It’s kind of on you.” 

“I pay lots of parking tickets,” he continues, adding, “Since I say that today, I better make sure I am all paid up.” (Oldenburg noted, however, that he’s more worried about the $10.7 million of unpaid parking tickets.) 

Baringer agreed, saying, “Any ticket I’ve gotten as an elected official, I’ve paid.” She noted that it’s pretty easy to look up in public records who is paying their tickets and who is voiding theirs, so it’s best to just pay. 

Layne was appointed treasurer in April 2021 when his predecessor Tishaura Jones became mayor. He won election to a full term in November 2024. 

In his first nine months in office, Layne got three parking tickets. City records show he paid those off, including a ticket issued in early December 2022 for an expired meter. Later that same month, he was issued another ticket, which was the first of eight that were voided or adjudicated without being paid over the next several years. The most recent ticket that was taken care of came in September 2024 at a pay-lot in Soulard. The eight tickets were originally issued for $20 each and all except one were for parking at an expired meter. However the penalties for nonpayment were waived as well, bringing the total amount voided to $80 each.

Layne currently has two pending tickets, each for $80. 

The towing and booting of scofflaw cars remains mired in dysfunction as the city’s Streets Department and the Treasurer’s Office have failed to get on the same page regarding their respective operations. Yesterday, SLM reported on a slew of cars that owe tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid parking tickets but haven’t gotten a boot put on them by the Treasurer’s Office, which prevents the city’s Streets Department from towing them. 

But even if the two entities get on the same page, there may already be a fight brewing as to where that ticket revenue from towed cars ought to go, since the Treasurer’s Office infamously maintains separate accounts that don’t feed into the general fund.

Says Baringer: “The cars that are sitting on those thousands of dollars worth of tickets are going to be towed and auctioned off. I believe 100 percent of the auction funds should go back to the city.”