The citation amounts increased in response to increased state surcharges, which went from $9.50 to $12.50 on Dec. 7. As a result, the transportation service department must offset the additional surcharges. According to the committee meeting minutes, Transportation Services Associate Director Todd Berven presented scenarios that increased parking citations by $3, $5, $10 or $15.
Management and Planning Communications Director Rex Graham said in an email that the committee was considering other possible increases that ranged from $0 to $100.
“Some wanted to increase the fees by considerably more than [$15],” he wrote. “$15 was the middle ground for the proposed fee increases. I cannot speak to why the committee chose $15.”
The committee — an advisory board of six faculty and staff members, two undergraduates and one graduate student — voted 5-2 for approving the citation increase, which passed.
A.S. representative Adam Powers and UCSD Healthcare representative Ray Osborne were absent from the Dec. 6 meeting. The individuals who voted against the fee increase were Student College Council Representative Karleen Ronsairo and staff representative Paul DeWine. Vice Chancellor of Resource Management and Planning Russell Thackston, who was present at the meeting, then approved the increase.
Citation amounts for 20 of 25 types of violations went up by $15; these citations include not having a parking permit — which now costs $65 to pay off, as opposed to $50. If the fees are not paid within 21 days, the fee is doubled, so the possible total is $150, compared to last year’s $120.
The citation amounts that remained the same include $450 for having no placard, $450 for parking in a disabled zone, $450 for misusing a disabled person parking placard, $150 for a boot fee and $20 for a non-sufficient funds fee.
Graham said the increases are a way to address the department’s financial situation, since A.S. Council rejected a $25 student fee referendum last year. Faculty Welfare committee representative and psychology professor Timothy Rickard agreed that the increase was for revenue reasons.
“The reason it’s at the level that it is our parking citation fees having been previously below what the case is at, for example, UCLA and, some other UC schools that we use for comparison,” Rickard said. “[It is one] of many decisions that will need to be made to make revenue for the parking services overall that just brings us in line with what is the case at other universities that we use for examples.”
UCLA’s website states that the fine for not displaying a ticket is $58. Their highest fine is $508 for an invalid or misused disabled placard.
“The citation fee increase was not implemented to help TS’ financial situation,” Graham wrote.
The UC Berkeley’s website states that revenue from citations on UC campuses cannot be used to build parking, but they can cover enforcement costs.
The transportation budget is facing a $3-million funding deficit that is mostly caused by repair costs to the Arbor Parking Structure at the Hillcrest Medical Center. The structure is expected to collapse within the next five to 10 years, unless it is rebuilt with an estimated $30-to-$50 million.
“Transportation Parking Services department only has so many ways they can adjust to make up for budget deficits,” Powers said. “They can either cut services, which means shuttles away, or they can raise rates, which means raising parking permit rates and raising parking citation rates .”
Graham said the citation increase has not helped with Transportation Services’ financial situation. The webpage for citation penalty amounts for 2010 were taken down during the week of Jan. 3. The new penalty amounts have not been displayed online since January. Graham said there would not be any potential increases in the near future.
TPC chair William Trogler and DeWine could not be contacted at press time.
Readers can contact Regina Ip at [email protected].
