A month after beginning to deny certain city services to debtors, Evanston has collected $15,000 to help fill a hole deeper than $400,000 in unpaid fines, officials said.

Since Dec. 17, people with outstanding parking tickets and fines for ordinance violations have been unable to purchase services, including vehicle permits, beach tokens and pet licenses. But debtors still have access to safety and sanitation services, such as police and fire protection and garbage collection.

“(Debtors) are not going to be able to walk their dogs or to park in their neighborhoods,” said Wayne Moran , of the Evanston Hearings Division. “Of course we will pick their garbage up because that would impact their neighbors.”

Debtors owe the city $429,000. About $260,000 is a result of unpaid parking tickets, Moran said. He said he expects to collect 20 percent more fine money than previous years.

But some Northwestern students said they still will not pay parking tickets and other fines.

“This won’t affect me at all because I don’t need a beach pass and I’m not looking for a parking permit,” said Rohan Patel, a Music junior . “I have about 50 unpaid tickets and I am not exaggerating.” For two years Patel has survived with only an NU parking permit, parking in a space by his apartment.

Moran and other officials said the money collected from debtors will help balance the 2002 city budget.

“It’s a constant additional financial benefit for the city,” Moran said. “We are not trying to be oppressive, we are trying to be like any other business.”

But City Manager Roger Crum said collecting the money is also a matter of principle.

“It’s the responsible thing to do so good taxpayers don’t have to make up for the bills of bad people,” Crum said, who says it’s working.

Taking city services away from debtors is a unique way of getting them to pay, officials said. The neighboring villages of Skokie and Wilmette do not deny services to debtors. Evanston also differs from its neighbors because it stopped using a collection agency to handle its debts. Skokie and Wilmette still rely on such agencies, which claim a percentage of the fines.

Skokie and Wilmette officials said their operating budgets do not rely on fines as much as Evanston. For example, Evanston receives more than $1 million in paid parking fines each year. Skokie gets about $80,000 and Wilmette takes in about $21,000.

The other $200,000 in unpaid fines is a result of unpaid property violation fees, Moran said. Beginning in April property owners with outstanding fines will no longer be able to purchase transfer stamps from the city, which are required to sell property. Moran said many landlords pass their property and violations to new owners, creating a cycle of poor living conditions and denying the city money from fines.

“These people who have debts won’t have the same privileges,” Moran said. “You are just better off paying a ticket at its original price.”