HomeMy WebLinkAboutPOWERPOINT - PARKING BAIL SCHEDULECity of Tustin ------------------------------ --- 0 ---------------------- I ---------- PARKING BAIL SCHEDULE REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS Background California Vehicle Code Section 40203.5 Authorizes cities to establish parking violation and late payment penalties Requires, to the extent possible, issuing agencies standardize penalties City has not reviewed or increased parking penalties since 1988 Exception in 2011 ($3) Traffic Background ducted aneighboring-city survey. Based on the findings, and in conjunction with the City Attorney's Office, recommendations were made for updating the parking bail schedule. Consistency • The Traffic Unit strived to achieve consistency when determining the appropriate fees Goal was to avoid having one fine seem more "punitive" than another, while also recovering costs related to citation processing Some CVC violations mirrored TCC violations, but the fines were different Example: The fine for CVC violation "red curb" is currently $40 and the TCC violation for "no parking signs/curbs" is $49 In order to achieve this consistency, the fines for some violations went up and others went down Costs of Doing Business Allocation of Parking Penalties a. County or Orange — Parking Assessment Fee: $2.00/cite b. County of Orange — Criminal Justice Facilities Fee: $1.50/cite c. County of Orange — Courthouse Construction Fee: $1.50/cite d. State — Immediate and Critical Needs Construction Fee: $3.00/cite e. State — Court Facilities Construction Fee: $1.50/cite f. State —Trial Court Trust Fund Fee: $3.00/cite g. Turbo Data Fee: $1.32/cite Total: $13.82/cite Late Fees • DMV Hold Fees The DMV charges a $3 fee to place a registration hold on an unpaid parking ticket This fee is taken by DMV from the penalty fee and the remainder is sent to the City Turbo Data charges the City $i.26 to send a DMV Hold letter Both fees are not currently assessed or collected by the City and are taken from the initial bail amount Late Fees The City's current $33 late payment fee is intended to be a deterrent that encourages on-time payment • Late fees have not been changed since 1988 Recommendations "4M 1. Increase the fine for TCC violations by an average of $2 to $51 ➢ TCC fines have not been raised since 1988 ➢ Any raises in fine amounts have stemmed from State and/or County increases ➢ The goal was to obtain consistency among all bail amounts ➢ Some TCC fines were lowered to obtain this consistency ➢ Examples: ➢ TCC 534od — Commercial vehicle parking, which currently has a fine amount of $ 6'7 ➢ TCC 53309 — Repairing or greasing vehicle on public street, which currently has a fine amount of $62 Recommendations 2. Increase the fine for CVC violations by an average TCC CVC Of $15 to $51 ➢ Although a $15 increase to CVC fines may 19% seem excessive, the department only cites for CVC violations 19% of the time ➢ Additionally, a large reason for the increase is a $51 increase to handicapped violations ➢ The state mandated minimum fine is $250, with a maximum of $1,000 ➢ The $304 amount chosen was the average fine amount and well below the $376 fine amount charged by the Orange County cities polled 81% Recommendations 3. It is recommended that when a penalty reaches DMV hold, an additional $5 be assessed to the violator to recover fees related to placing a DMV hold ➢ As previously listed, when a penalty goes unpaid and a DMV hold is placed on the vehicle, $4.26 is taken from the bail amount and is not recovered by the City. ➢ By assessing a $5 fee (instead of $4.26) for each DMV hold, we are hoping to recover staff costs involved in managing the parking program. ➢ Example: If a violator never pays the fine, the City is still responsible for paying Turbo Data for sending out the DMV hold letter, which costs $1.26 Recommendations 4. It is recommended that the late fee be raised from $33 to $35 ➢ Late fees have not been updated since 1988 ➢ Late fees are meant to be punitive, with the intent of deterring late or non- payment of fines ➢ $2 is a minimal increase and are consistent with the average amount charged by other Orange County cities