GULF SHORES, Ala. — In many cities across the country, a parking ticket fine can cost as much as $85. Here in Gulf Shores, the fine for a parking ticket has been $6 for more than two decades. But city officials are working on an amendment that will more than double the fine.

According to Municipal Court Clerk Ken McKenzie, city attorney Donald Stewart has been working on an amendment that will raise the cost of illegal parking within the city of Gulf Shores.

“The amount of a regular parking ticket has only been $6 for 20-something years, and he suggests that we get more in line with other municipalities,” McKenzie told the City Council at a recent work session. “We will be raising the fine for a normal parking ticket to $15.”

In addition, fines for parking in handicapped designated parking areas without a permit, as well as parking in fire lanes has also been $6.

“There is a provision in state law that you can write a regular traffic ticket for a handicap parking violation, but you have to have the name of the owner, which sometimes the tag doesn’t reveal,” McKenzie said. “It also requires, however, that the space be marked, painted and the amount of the fine must be posted on the sign. And if you notice around town, most handicapped parking spaces do not comply to that.”

McKenzie said the fine for handicapped and fire lane violations will be $50.

“This will make it more of a deterrent at places like Wal-Mart, apartment complexes and other commercial type sites where people often violate that law,” he said.

In doing his review, McKenzie said Stewart found a discrepancy in one of the code’s sections pertaining to West Beach Boulevard about improper parking, saying that one could not park on the improved roadway or the right-of-way of Highway 182. The error was that it excluded property owners.

“That, in affect, could mean property owners on West Beach could park in the middle of the road if they wanted to, so the exclusion to property owners has been omitted,” he said.

McKenzie said that West Beach Boulevard is where the majority of regular parking tickets are written.This is not to be confused with a beach parking violation in the controlled access parking areas.