S.F. considers raising parking fines to fill gap
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle September 10, 2011 04:00 AM
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Parking ticket fines in San Francisco may go up $3 apiece in a city that already has some of the steepest penalties in the nation.
The perennially cash-strapped Municipal Transportation Agency is scrambling to fill a funding gap, and increasing the fines could help raise more money.
That means, for example, the penalty to park at an expired downtown meter would go up to $68 and the fine to park in a street-cleaning zone would jump to $58 in the city if the increase were enacted.
"It's certainly something that we have to consider," Cheryl Brinkman, who serves on the Municipal Transportation Agency's governing board, said Friday.
Part of the deficit problem: Fewer tickets are being issued, resulting in $7 million less fine revenue than the $104 million originally anticipated. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009, 1,601,962 parking tickets were issued; in the next year, San Francisco's parking enforcement crew issued 1,467,860 citations, an average of three citations every minute. The downward trend is continuing this year, agency officials said.
Another budget buster: The state, with its own money problems, decided to grab $3 from every parking ticket handed out.
Initially, San Francisco officials were willing to take the hit from Sacramento without raising fines, said Sonali Bose, the transportation agency's chief financial officer. But now, as they scramble to plug a projected $23 million funding gap in the $781 million operating budget for the new fiscal year that began July 1, their intention may be evaporating.
The state raid to help fund California's court system is anticipated to cost the San Francisco transportation agency about $3 million in lost proceeds this year.
Parking revenue is used, in part, to fund the Muni public transit system.
The transportation board's Policy and Governance Committee was briefed on the budget problems Friday, and in October or November, the full board may consider raising the fines, for implementation as soon as January.
New fine for parking at an expired downtown meter
$58
New fine for parking in a street-cleaning zone
The perennially cash-strapped Municipal Transportation Agency is scrambling to fill a funding gap, and increasing the fines could help raise more money.
That means, for example, the penalty to park at an expired downtown meter would go up to $68 and the fine to park in a street-cleaning zone would jump to $58 in the city if the increase were enacted.
"It's certainly something that we have to consider," Cheryl Brinkman, who serves on the Municipal Transportation Agency's governing board, said Friday.
Part of the deficit problem: Fewer tickets are being issued, resulting in $7 million less fine revenue than the $104 million originally anticipated. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009, 1,601,962 parking tickets were issued; in the next year, San Francisco's parking enforcement crew issued 1,467,860 citations, an average of three citations every minute. The downward trend is continuing this year, agency officials said.
Another budget buster: The state, with its own money problems, decided to grab $3 from every parking ticket handed out.
Initially, San Francisco officials were willing to take the hit from Sacramento without raising fines, said Sonali Bose, the transportation agency's chief financial officer. But now, as they scramble to plug a projected $23 million funding gap in the $781 million operating budget for the new fiscal year that began July 1, their intention may be evaporating.
The state raid to help fund California's court system is anticipated to cost the San Francisco transportation agency about $3 million in lost proceeds this year.
Parking revenue is used, in part, to fund the Muni public transit system.
The transportation board's Policy and Governance Committee was briefed on the budget problems Friday, and in October or November, the full board may consider raising the fines, for implementation as soon as January.
Possible fines
$68New fine for parking at an expired downtown meter
$58
New fine for parking in a street-cleaning zone
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