Parking
services expects more profits
By Sharon Christensen
On-line Forty-Niner
Skyrocketing
enrollment and overtaxed parking facilities
will lead to an increase in the number of
parking fines issued, according to budget
projections provided by Parking and Event
Services.
With enrollment still on the rise and a
parking shortage of 1,000 spaces, parking
citation revenues are expected to increase
in the next year due to more aggressive
enforcement of violations, Parking and Event
Services Director Tom Bass said.
According to budget figures provided by
Parking and Event Services, the 2002-2003
fiscal year should bring an estimated increase
of $30,000 in revenues for parking fines
compared to an estimated $560,000 in citation
revenue for the 2001-2002 fiscal year. Assuming
each parking ticket is paid at the original
fine of $25, that means an additional 1,200
citations issued next year.
“We think we’re going to be severely taxed
as far as the amount of the parking and
the limited supply we have,” Bass said.
“All of last year, we filled every space
up, and did so through the first seven weeks.
We had periods where we had every space
on campus full.”
Bass said last year’s woes were due to an
unanticipated increase in enrollment of
1,400 new students, again taxing parking
facilities, leaving students to wait in
long lines for available spaces.
“This year, we anticipate a 1,000 [full-time
equivalent] increase, which translates to
about 1,300 new students above what we have
planned,” Bass said, adding that full-time
equivalent is the total number of units
being taken divided by 15, the number categorized
as a full schedule.
The budgeted figures are derived from a
number of projected amounts, according to
Donise Knight, financial analyst for Parking
and Event Services.
“Revenue is hard to project,” said Knight,
who Bass said has projected within $10,000
of the actual, year-end figures. “I look
at the prior year and I do a comparison,
based on the number of tickets, the number
of voided tickets, enrollment, participation
in carpooling.”
According to campus enrollment figures,
the last three years have seen a steady,
sometimes striking increase in enrollment,
such as last year’s increase from 30,920
to 33,259 last fall, while citation revenue
has roughly remained the same.
However, compared to the 1995-1996 fiscal
year, when enrollment was 26,403 students,
citation revenue totaled $626,058, according
to that year’s Annual Financial Report.
Last year’s total revenue for citations
was projected at $560,000, about $3,500
more than the previous year’s actual revenue
from citations.
This year, with a total projected enrollment
at 34,000 students, revenue from citations
is expected to reach $590,000. Factor in
$185,000 estimated to come from fines the
Department of Motor Vehicles collects and
$70,000 in interest, the total amount earned
from fines and forfeitures is anticipated
to jump $845,000, more than $200,000 above
the actual revenues from 1995-1996, when
enrollment was about 8,000 fewer.
This year’s $30,000 increase in citations
will not amount to much, though, Bass said.
“There’s a modest increase in anticipated
interest earnings and then a fairly nominal
increase to the citations of $30,000,” Bass
said.
Bass said the increase will be due to increased
vigilance and enforcement of parking citations,
with continuation of last year’s successful
immobilization program, where those with
five or more outstanding parking citations
would have their vehicles immobilized until
they paid the outstanding fines.
According to the California Education Code,
revenue from these parking fines must be
used to implement and operate alternate
methods of transportation, such as the new
off-campus parking shuttle from Long Beach
City College and the shuttles from the new
park-and-ride locations off campus.
“That’s a very interesting distinction,”
Bass said. “We have a restricted fund, we
can not use it for general purposes. But
if you were in a city, the fines and forfeitures
from your parking citations would pay the
mayor’s salary or any other purpose. It’s
all put into the general pot. And it’s a
big source of revenue. And those people
coming to campus think we’re doing it the
same way, we don’t. It’s a restricted fund.”
Knowing a shortage exists and drivers will
be parking illegally, why not stop selling
parking permits?
“We do not do that,” Bass said. “Our commitment
is to provide the parking spaces, that’s
why long term, we’re looking at building
additional parking structures, and short
term, we’re providing alternative parking
off campus and promoting alternate transportation.”
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