Last night the parking authority reviewed its operating budget and recommended that monthly permits and some fines should be raised. From teh Hour:
Parking violation fees and monthly permits are up. Hourly rates are largely unchanged. Security and maintenance are boosted in the Parking Authority’s proposed 2008-09 operating budget.
“We’re enhancing some of our fines. A couple of people on the authority feel very strongly about people who park in handicapped zones and shouldn’t, so we’re bringing that fine up to the state maximum (of $200),” said Stephen G. Bentkover, Parking Authority chairman. “We’re going to be raising the rates on monthly parking stickers, minimally, because we haven’t raised them in years and we have to keep place with inflation.”
On Wednesday night, the authority is scheduled to hold a public hearing on its proposed 2008-09 operating budget. The hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Department of Public Works conference room in City Hall.
The proposed 2008-09 operating budget, prepared by public works staff, anticipates $4,811,082 in revenues and $4,766,576 in expenses for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2008. If the budget is approved and the projections are met, the authority would end the year in the black by $44,506.
“We’re planning for it to balance, and if we have to adjust it during the year, we’ll adjust it. We have know way of predicting what the revenues will be, what the (parking) trends will be,” Bentkover said. On the other hand “we have five years worth of (parking data) now.”Under the proposed budget, the fine for parking illegally in a handicappied parking space increases from $150 to the $200. Overtime fines rise from $20 to $25. Parking in a no-parking zone is up from $20 to $35.
Monthly permits increase $5 system-wide, except at the Maritime Garage. There, parking for one to three hours would increase from $5 to $6; parking from three to six hours would go from $6 to $7, under the proposed budget.
“The idea is to keep up with inflation basically. Maintenance costs go up, the costs of salaries go up, our debt service has gone up,” said Kathryn Hebert, administrative services manager at the public works department. “Because the Parking Authority is self-sufficient and providing a higher level of service, we are not requiring a city taxpayer subsidy, which allows the finance department and the mayor and the Board of Estimate (and Taxation) to focus on other issues.”
source: The Hour, Parking agency to hike fines, monthly rates, By ROBERT KOCH, December 18, 2007
