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SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake leaders have discovered they are losing revenue because of fewer parking tickets.
An audit shows a downward trend in the last five years in revenue from parking enforcement. Nearly 140,000 tickets in 2006 dropped to an estimated 106,000 this fiscal year.
Art Raymond, deputy director of communications for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker says the city will now try to find out why.
"We are interested in an analysis, not with the goal of building those revenues, but just trying to get at the core issues behind the changes in revenue. Right now we are not sure what's instigating the trend," Raymond said.
Number of tickets issued by SLC Parking Enforcement
| 1st Qtr | 2nd Qtr | 3rd Qtr | 4th Qtr | YTD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2011* | 28,381 | 25,781 | 25,971 | 26,315 | 106,448 |
| FY2010 | 29,212 | 27,516 | 28,642 | 31,576 | 116,946 |
| FY2009 | 32,195 | 32,035 | 31,481 | 33,622 | 129,333 |
| FY2008 | 32,470 | 29,874 | 30,698 | 33,237 | 126,279 |
| FY2007 | 32,079 | 32,528 | 31,972 | 31,917 | 128,496 |
| FY2006 | 36,319 | 33,022 | 35,350 | 35,503 | 140,194 |
The city will be looking at whether it's on the enforcement end, like something their officers are doing differently, or whether it's on the compliance end - meaning people are just better at parking, feeding the meters, or avoiding tickets.
The city doesn't think fewer people are parking downtown.
"I think anyone who works or spends time downtown, as I do myself -- it's not in my perception that downtown is any less busy. Parking spots are still hard to find," Raymond said.
He also noted that the city recently started a new electronic boot system, in which motorists with overdue tickets have their cars booted until they pay the fines electronically.
"The intent of the booting system is to have this incentive. Really, the ideal is that we would never boot anyone because people are current with their tickets," he explained.
Email: mrichards@ksl.com
