Olathe ? To avoid getting the boot, pay your parking tickets.

The city recently purchased two parking boots it will use starting Oct. 1 in downtown Olathe to immobilize vehicles whose owners have unpaid tickets in excess of $100.

The measure was taken to help recover an estimated $30,000 in outstanding fines, Police Chief Janet Thiessen said in July.

A March audit of the municipal court’s cash handling and collection procedures indicated that from January 2004 to July 2007, nearly 2,000 parking tickets remain unpaid.

Most tickets are written when cars exceed the allotted time limits imposed on spaces in downtown Olathe, but some are the result of cars parked illegally.

“Hopefully, it will curb some of that,” Sgt. Johnny Roland, a department spokesman, said in reference to parking violations downtown, “and encourage folks to come in and pay their fines.”

When a car is booted, the owner will have 72 hours before it’s towed to pay any unpaid tickets and a $50 immobilization fee. If a car is towed, fines and the immobilization fee must be paid in addition to any fees incurred by the tow lot before the car can be released to the owner.

Removing or attempting to remove a boot could result in a $500 fine and/or restitution for any damage caused to it.