The District took in more than $90 million last fiscal year from parking tickets, a record-breaking sum nearly 16 percent greater than the previous year.
Parking officials issued 1.6 million tickets in fiscal 2011 and pulled in $92.6 million in revenue, according to a report by AAA Mid-Atlantic. That’s almost 100,000 more tickets and a staggering $12.2 million spike in revenue over 2010.
“The question is why this jump?” said John Townsend, spokesman for the organization. “Is it that people are more diligent about paying their tickets, or has the city suddenly become better at collecting?”
The D.C. Department of Public Works, the city’s main enforcer out of 30 federal and city agencies authorized to do so, says it’s the former.
“The answer is more people are paying their parking tickets,” agency spokeswoman Linda Grant told The Washington Examiner.
But it might not be that simple, according to Townsend.
Back in 2010, Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration extended the time that meters must be fed until 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and did away with free Saturday parking in an effort to collect more cash for the general fund. The measure came less than a year after the city council approved an increase in parking fees. Under 2009 legislation, parking rates rose from $1 an hour to $2 an hour with all other meters increasing by 25 cents.
“The big change is due to the change in parking meter rates and hours,” Townsend said. “We see this big boom in the parking revenue. They’re [motorists] paying a pretty penny to park and an even prettier penny if they violate the parking rules.”
According to the report, the District’s annual revenue from parking meter fees alone — about $40 million per year — is on par with much bigger cities such as Los Angeles, which has twice as many meters.
The increased enforcement isn’t going unnoticed.
“We used to pay $2 for two hours, now we pay $4 for two hours,” said Sintayew Mengesha, an employee at a West End Westin hotel who has received three tickets in the past year. “It’s not fair. Every hour I am coming out to check the meter.”
