Parks summonses look like the smallest thing at OATH. Twenty-five dollars for a drink in a park. Then you get to the tree rows and the numbers change completely.
The price list is 56 RCNY § 1-07, updated 30 March 2025. It sits in the same chapter as the rules it prices, so the offence and its cost are in one place. That is unusual and it makes it easy to check.
What the common charges cost
| Charge | Rule | Fine | If you don’t show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol in a park | 56 RCNY § 1-05(f)(1) | $25 | $25 |
| In a park after closing | 56 RCNY § 1-03(a)(3) | $50 | $75 |
| Dog off the leash | 56 RCNY § 1-04(i) | $100 | $150 |
| Same, second within a year | $250 | $375 | |
| Not picking up after your dog | 56 RCNY § 1-04(j)(1) | $100 | $200 |
| Vending without permission | 56 RCNY § 1-05(b) | $250 | $375 |
| Same, second within a year | $500 | $750 | |
| Event or demonstration without a permit | 56 RCNY § 1-05(a)(2) | $250 | $375 |
| Event that gets in the way of normal park use | 56 RCNY § 1-05(a)(1) | $500 | $750 |
| Stand or booth without a permit | 56 RCNY § 1-05(a)(3) | $250 | $375 |
| Damaging Parks property | 56 RCNY § 1-04(a)(2) | $100 | $150 |
| Damage that costs real money to repair | 56 RCNY § 1-04(a)(1) | $1,000 | $1,500 |
| Illegal dumping | 56 RCNY § 1-04(c)(3) | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Same, second within 12 months | $10,000 | $10,000 |
Trees
| Charge | Rule | Fine | If you don’t show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cutting, removing or killing a tree | 56 RCNY § 1-04(b)(1)(i) | $1,000 | $1,125 |
| Carving or writing on a tree | 56 RCNY § 1-04(b)(1)(ii) | $200 | $300 |
| Damaging or killing other plants | 56 RCNY § 1-04(b)(1)(iii) | $200 | $300 |
| Planting without written approval | 56 RCNY § 1-05(l) | $50 | $75 |
Two things sit behind that first row, and they matter more than the fine.
The law allows far more. Administrative Code § 18-129 allows up to $10,000 in civil fines and a $15,000 criminal fine per tree. Parks writes the $1,000 rule charge in practice, but the ceiling above it is real.
The two year permit ban is the real cost. A civil fine for unlawful tree cutting can block you from getting Parks approval for up to two years. And it is triggered by the fine, not only by a criminal conviction. If you run a tree service, a landscaping business or a construction company, that is worse than any number on this page.
The tree replacement bill is separate too. It is not part of the summons, and paying the summons does not settle it.
Expect $750, not the $1,000 in the rule
The published schedule says $1,000, with $1,125 if you don’t show up. In practice Parks has issued this summons at $750 in every recorded case since June 2017. That is all 228 of them in the OATH data, through July 2026. OATH has assessed $750 on the cases it has decided, including ones heard after the 2025 amendment.
So expect $750, and $1,125 if you default. The $1,000 has sat in the rule unchanged since 2017, and the 2025 amendment did not touch that row. The conflict is unresolved in the public record: no published document anywhere states $750. It exists only as practice.
Two things follow. Nobody can tell you this penalty “went up to $1,000 in 2025”, because it did not. And if a summons in your hand says $1,000, that is worth raising, because it is not what this charge has been written at for nine years.
Nothing here can be fixed
No fix-it period. No first-time warning. No deal. No discount for correcting it. None of that appears anywhere in the rule.
People arrive assuming the Buildings system applies everywhere at OATH. It does not, and Parks is the clearest example.
“It’s only a fine” is often wrong
About half the rows on this list are marked in the rule as also being crimes under Administrative Code § 18-146 or § 18-147.
The civil summons in your hand does not close off the other route. Vending, dumping, dogs off the leash and damaging park property all carry that marking.
If yours is one of those and you seriously disagree with the facts, that is worth knowing before you decide how to handle the hearing.