Following the lead of other Peninsula cities, the San Mateo City Council will consider raising parking tickets by $5 to $10.
Currently, San Mateo parking fees range between $20 and $65, excluding handicap parking, which carries a $325 fine. Police Chief Susan Manheimer is recommending all tickets below $35 be raised to $35 and all more expensive fines be raised by $5, according to a report issued Thursday.
The two most common violations are expired meters and parking in a restricted lot. Together the two violations accounted for approximately 60 percent of the 40,298 parking tickets issued in 2008. Each ticket currently carries a $25 fine. Under the revised ordinance, the violations would carry a $35 fine, according to the report.
Most other tickets are either $20, $25, $30 or $35. Tickets will now range between $35 and $40 except for violations for expired registration, which would be raised to $70, and parking in a handicap spot without proper identification, which would be raised to $330, according to the report.
The increase would up city revenue by $230,000. Not raising ticket fees will cost the city approximately $120,000, according to the report.
Recommended for you
Senate Bill 1407, effective Jan. 1, 2009, requires the city to pay $3 of each parking ticket to fund court construction in the state. The state was already taking $1.50 per ticket.
The new parking fines offsets those additional state costs and brings the city in line with the county average of $38 a ticket, according to the report.
A recent study by the San Bruno Police Department indicates an average parking fine in the county is $38. San Mateo’s current average is $31, according to the report. The last time the city raised parking fines was in 2003, according to the report.
The council will consider the proposal when it meets 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 6 at City Hall, 330 W. 20th Ave.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.