Oakland Not Refunding Overpaid Parking Tickets

Oakland drivers are paying too much. And that's just fine with Oakland.

The city is not refunding motorists who overpay for parking tickets, an audit has found. In all, the "city was withholding $316,000 in overpaid parking tickets" from fiscal year 2010-2011.

A total of 30 percent of ticket payers somehow paid double what they owed, the Oakland Tribune reported. State law requires cities to inform payees about an overpayment and then return the money, but Oakland made no effort to inform citizens and return their money.

Despite the overpayments, the city's parking agency is not hitting revenue goals, according to the audit. So despite the $316,000 in overpayments, the parking fine collections cost Oakland $400,000, the newspaper reported.