AUBURN - An immobilizing boot that was supposed to help the city enforce unpaid parking tickets has yet to arrive, according to the Auburn Police Department.

The city ordered the boot last month and it was expected to arrive by the end of September, police chief Gary Giannotta said.

“I expected to be attaching it to vehicles by the beginning of October, but it still has not shown up,” Giannotta said.

The city council voted in August to purchase the boot as a way to collect on more than $100,000 that people owe the city in overdue parking violations.

Auburn police will be able to order a towing company to lock the steel device on cars whose owners owe $100 or more.

If the fines remain unpaid after three days, the car can be towed at the owner's expense.

The towing company will also be able to apply for a mechanic's lien and sell unclaimed cars for scrap twice a year.

During the weeks following the ordinance, thousands of dollars' worth of parking violations were paid off.

However, the city has yet to see any payments from the top offenders, according to comptroller Lisa Green.

The person with the largest accumulation of violations owed $710 in August.

Now, she owes $910, Green said. The second-highest violator owes $690, she said.

According to Giannotta, police will target the problematic violators first when the immobilizing device finally arrives.

Giannotta said that he has called the police equipment distributor where the boot was ordered multiple times in the last two weeks, and has not received any response or explanation as to why the device is late.

“I don't know what else I can do,” he said. “But I expect it (to come) in any day.”