Hearings for parking tickets spike in Denver, forcing some drivers to pay double the initial fine. How waiting for your day in court could cost you

This has led to a spike in requests for in-person parking ticket hearings. From January to September 2025, the monthly average for in-person hearings was just six, but that average jumped to 206 per month in Q4 2025.

‘Denver, we have a problem’

CBS spoke with one Denver resident who said she had been ticketed after she parked in a residential permitted area. Danna Lingo has stage 4 cancer, as well as a disability placard for parking, as it can be challenging for her to walk long distances.

She thought her placard allowed her to park in the residential permitted area because some other cities allow it. Denver, however, does not, a lesson that Lingo learned the hard way. She wanted to dispute the ticket because “there should be a provision for ADA parking," Lingo told CBS.

But since there’s no longer an online platform, Lingo needed to visit Denver’s City and County Building in person and make an appointment to dispute the ticket. Then, she’d need to return for the actual hearing.

The city terminated the online option to dispute parking tickets as part of budget cuts. A previous CBS report detailed how the jobs of five parking magistrates, and support staff, were eliminated to save money, which in turn meant the online portal to dispute tickets was shut down (2). The city council has since written a letter to the mayor asking that the jobs be restored.

"These public facing roles are essential for managing increased parking enforcement and ensuring the timely resolution of citations," read a portion of the city council’s letter, CBS reports.

One resident told CBS that while she has the time to go down to the city building to make an appointment, and then return for a hearing, many people don’t.

“What about the 21-year-old person who has an hourly job and can't get off work, or the person who physically can't get out of their vehicle to go there?” Syl Morgan Smith told CBS (2). “Denver, we have a problem.”