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