Cash-strapped counties across Northern Virginia are turning to drivers to help them shore up their budgets.
Counties are raising money by increasing auto and parking fees and cracking down on drivers with violations that were more likely to slip under the radar in wealthier times.
Alexandria last month established a program that prevents drivers with unpaid parking tickets from renewing their car registrations at the Department of Motor Vehicles until they settle their parking debts and pay an extra $20 – a measure city officials said could net $625,000 in a tight budget year.
The city also is proposing to raise Old Town parking meter rates, which have not been touched for more than 15 years. Officials expect to generate $700,000 next year from the plan.
Prince William County – arguably the region’s most budget-strapped – is considering raising the decal fee on cars and trucks from $24 to $38, close to the maximum the state allows.
The plan would pull in an additional $4 million to help county officials tackle an imminent transportation-finance crisis.
In Fairfax County, a rise in parking garage fees is on the table, as is a drastic increase in the fines for some parking violations.
The county wants to double the fine for illegally parking in a handicapped spot from $250 to $500 – the state maximum. Other fines would rise more moderately.
Fairfax also is considering raising the fee it charges for taxicab licenses – a proposal that Arlington County officials also considered but eventually abandoned.
“We decided we neededmore time to evaluate what that effect would be on new taxicab drivers, and it wasn’t going to raise that much money for the county anyway,” board member Chris Zimmerman said.
Arlington this month began cracking down on a long-standing problem of residents failing to register their cars in Virginia by assessing the delinquent registrants with a $100 annual fee.
