New London — The fine for parking at a city bus stop, within 10 feet of a corner or on a crosswalk is $25, according to the tickets given out by parking enforcement.

But the fines are less costly, in many cases less than half as much, on the list of penalties for 19 parking violations under city ordinance section 20-27.

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee is working to rectify the discrepancies, and avoid giving violators ammunition for an appeal, with an update to that ordinance.

The committee on Monday asked city attorney Brian Estep to draft an ordinance that updates the fine amounts or gives the city flexibility in periodically changing those amounts.

Public Safety Committee Chairwoman Erica Richardson said she still thinks it would be a “hard sell,” for a violator to try to claim the smaller fine amounts at an appeal, “but you don’t want to give them a reason to argue.”

Estep said people have raised the issue at appeal hearings, but it is unclear how they were handled.

The city ordinance pertaining to fines appears to have been on the books since 1989 and never updated or codified, Estep said. He said it’s possible the council voted to update the fine amounts, but no record has been located to prove it.

Clark van der Lyke, a former longtime city clerk and now a code editor, said the issue is one of many archaic or outdated ordinances that need to be addressed. He recalls coming across an ordinance that calls for a 50 cent fine for not having a pail of sand next to an oil burner. There is another that prohibits dressing or undressing in a vehicle.

“Things need to be cleaned up on occasion,” van der Lyke said.

He said it remains unclear if and when the City Council voted to increase the fines for parking violations.

“There have been instances when an ordinance is revised and the processing procedures have failed and a revision not processed,” van der Lyke wrote in a letter to Richardson. “Unfortunately, council minutes have not been indexed for the span of years that would have been associated with the fee schedule, and no record supporting changes can be located.”

He said he thinks it’s a good idea to let police handle the fee schedule and keep any dollar amounts out of the ordinance. The city also has the option of setting rates to match state violations, which in many cases are higher. The fines under city ordinance range from $5 to $50 whereas the fines listed on a city violation ticket range from $25 to $125. The highest amounts in each are reserved for parking in a handicapped parking space.

Van der Lyke credited Richardson with attention to detail when it comes to addressing lingering public safety-related code issues “that have gotten by us in the past.”

Van der Lyke said it is unclear how the appeals process handles someone who comes in with the ordinance argument.

“If I was told I had to pay a $50 parking ticket now, I’d think I’d bring the code book with me and say “No, I don’t,” van der Lyke said.

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay