Students whose funds are being drained through parking tickets might be saved thanks to a state law that has recently come under scrutiny.

Local officials said State College and Bellefonte are in violation of a law that requires inspection and certification of parking meters.

Act 155, passed in Pennsylvania in 1996, requires parking meters to be inspected every three years. The law also includes mandatory inspection for gas pumps, laundromats and grocery scales.

Karen Martin, head of the State College Parking Office, said that since the meters have been called into question their office has only received two complaints.

For some students the chance to avoid paying a ticket is tempting.

"I don't usually mind paying the fine but I'd probably do it [contest the ticket]. I love to stick it to the man," Ed Lundgren (senior-political science) said.

If someone does contest a ticket and later on the meter is rejected upon inspection the person won't have to pay, Martin said. But for those who have paid already or amassed a pile of tickets, an appeal might be time consuming.

"This is one situation where a warrant for arrest [for not paying a parking ticket] would work to your advantage," District Judge Bradley P. Lunsford said.

State College Police Sgt. Mark Argiro said that after a person receives a ticket and they don't pay, they'll get a notice for a hearing and appear before a district court judge who then would take Act 155 into consideration.

Lunsford added that the borough might find many people trying to get a reimbursement for parking meter tickets.

"What's the borough to do when a person comes in with a cancelled check asking for money back?" he said.

As for getting reimbursement for past paid tickets, State College Mayor Bill Welch said there is a slim chance.

Parking violations in State College drew in more than $24,000 in revenue last May alone, Martin said.

The little-known law came into the limelight in March, after Charles Pascal, a lawyer in Leechburg, challenged a parking ticket and discovered that Butler County's meters were actually not certified, Pascal said.

Pascal added that since then parking meters have caused concern throughout other counties in Pennsylvania, including Centre County.

While most counties have opted to have the state inspect their meters, Centre County has their own sealer of weights and measures, Ron Williams.

The Bureau of Standards, Weights and Measures, a division of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, has only 18 people in the state who handle county meter inspections, said Ken Deitzler, chief of the bureau.

However, Williams said he only inspects meters at random whenever he receives a complaint. But because of recent attention to Act 155, Williams started inspecting all of State College 757 meters on Monday. "I've done a lot so far and I haven't seen any problems ... I hope to finish checking all meters by next week," Williams said.

Ed Holmes, State College's parking coordinator, said he is confident that all the meters are accurate.

He assures that the meters will be inspected on a regular basis from now on.

"I guarantee it'll be on my calendar every three years," Holmes said.