Forgetting to feed the meter or parking in a fire lane could get a lot more expensive in Baltimore County.
County Executive Jim Smith is pushing a bill that would increase fines for parking violations, in some cases more than doubling the current rates. Under his proposal, fines for expired meters would increase from $16 to $20, fines for parking in a fire lane would increase from $43 to $100, and illegal use of a handicapped parking space would increase from $75 to $150.
The adjustments ? the first in 15 years ? could net nearly $745,000 each year, county finance director Keith Dorsey said.
“It?s an inflationary adjustment to bring our fines in line with other Maryland metro counties,” Dorsey said.
Council Chairman Kevin Kamenetz will introduce the bill on Smith?s behalf Monday. If passed, the new rates would take effect Aug. 17.
Business owners called increased parking fines a “double-edged sword.”
“You want to flip the cars so you have more customers coming in, but at the same time, if your customers are getting fines outside, they may not patronize your business anymore,” said Keith Scott, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce.
Under the legislation, fines for parking in a no-park zone or stopping in a no-stop zone would double to $50. Parking in the wrong direction would increase from $21 to $25. All other violations would increase from $32 to $50.
The new rates are significantly less than in Baltimore City ? where handicapped space violations carry a $200 fine and meter violations are $23. Howard County charges $33 for most fines, but illegally parking in a handicapped space costs $350.
Baltimore County officials said they also planned to replace parking meters with credit card-friendly kiosks in the Towson area, starting with a pilot program along Allegheny Avenue. Motorists will purchase a ticket from a machine ? which can service more than 100 parking spaces ? and display it on their dashboard.
Towson merchants welcome the program, said Greater Towson Committee director Cynthia Bledsoe.
“We?ve kind of taken the motto that we want to make our sidewalks sexy again,” Bledsoe said. “It gets the beautiful people off the street by not clogging the sidewalks with meters.”
