The fines were tallied by running DPW's vehicle license plates through the DMV's online ticket database.
Nearly 90 DPW vehicles owe money, according to the site, and about one-third of the total -- nearly $10,000 -- belong to vehicles in the Parking Control Division. (The division that's actually out on the streets writing tickets.)
DPW spokeswoman Nancee Lyons said there is no way the department could owe that much money, and she estimates the total parking fines for the DPW's vast fleet of vehicles to be closer to $6,000.
Lyons also said many vehicles procured by DPW are actually used by other departments.
According to the DMV website, many of the tickets are from traffic cameras. Some are parking tickets that date back several years.
It's unclear how accurate or up to date the DMV's database is.
A Parking Control vehicle was spotted in Adams Morgan that, according to these online records, owes more than $3,700 because of towing and storage fees.
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But it was clearly out and about -- the driver was writing tickets. When asked about the fines, the driver had no comment.
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