A new automated parking ticket system will organize the State College collection policy, alleviate work for ticket office employees and help clumsy parking offenders avoid additional fines.

A $20,000 computer system, 75 percent of which will process parking tickets, is expected to be in use as early as next month, Parking Manager Ed Holmes said.

"One year from now, the headache and heartache will be history," Holmes said.

Under the present system, all processing is done by hand. Parking enforcement officers record each ticket by date. Reminder notices are also typed manually, Holmes said.

Recording tickets by date creates a problem when a person who has lost the ticket tries to pay, Holmes said. Unless the person can remember the specific date, he said, the parking office cannot help.

"We don't have the time or resources to look all over for the ticket," Holmes said.

The person must then wait for a reminder notice, or, if enough time has elapsed, a citation will raise a $3 or $5 fine to $35, Holmes said.

Under the new system, tickets can be found by the license plate number. "It will be so much more convenient. We won't have to quiz people," he said, adding, "We (had to) put people through the 10th degree."

The system will also identify people with outstanding tickets when another ticket is added to their file. It will automatically type reminder notices for unpaid tickets and will track citations, Holmes said.

"The borough has been searching for some time for an automated system," State College Finance Director Michael Groff said. There was an attempt at automation four years ago but it failed, mainly because the system had never been used before in a working environment, he added.

"Ed Holmes has seen (the new system) in operation," Groff said. "It has been proven in an operating environment."

Holmes, who has worked to automate the office for about 18 months, said he expects to have employees trained by the end of January. For the first month, both the computer and manual systems will be used as a precaution against any debilitating glitches in the new computers, Holmes said.

Improved ticket collection rates also are expected and a lot of hand work will be eliminated, he said. Without the new system, a part-time person most likely would have been hired within six months because the work load is so great, he said.

"The system will pay for itself in a matter of months in terms of lessened aggravation," Holmes said. "It's more than beneficial -- it's necessary."