More than half the fines issued by Tauranga City parking wardens are issued in the Central Business District, according to figures presented to council this week.
The nine month parking report received by council's Projects and Monitoring Committee shows fines and court recoveries are worth more than half a million dollars a year to the council.
Most tickets issued by parking wardens are issued in the central city.
The nine month report shows 2013 is a bumper year for tickets with the council netting $580, 978 in fines and court recoveries, an increase of $18,563 on last year.
Business downtown may also be recovering based on the average revenue per month figures for the last four financial years.
In the financial year 2009-2010 average revenue per month was about $315,000, dropping to about $305,000 in 2010-2011 before plunging to $280,000 in 2011-2012.
The average per month for 2012-2013 over nine months is under $280,000, but close enough to level in three months if the parking tickets keep flowing.
For the nine months of the current financial year parking revenue is down 1.08 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2012, down 7.92 per cent from 2011, and down 10.76 per cent from 2010.
Parking and fines income may also have been affected by a number of council decisions. In December 2010 council extended the WOF or registration fines waiver from one to two months. People who get ticketed by parking wardens for no WOF or Registration have 14 days after the date of the ticket to obtain a warrant or pay the registration, so long as the WOF or Registration is not more than two months overdue.
In July 2011 council started weekend free parking, which has since been rescinded. The new two tier $1 and $2 an hour rate system will come into effect in July.
6 comments
The reality
Posted on 13-05-2013 13:54 | By penguin
Obviously revenue is offset by expenditure. What, then, is the net 'profit' gained by the council after deduction of wages, capital costs, maintenance etc)?
Creaming it
Posted on 13-05-2013 13:58 | By Poseidon
All this tells me is that the council is sucking a further $250k plus per month out of the local economy. I suspect there are a lot of small business in the CBD who would like to see this left in circulation.
LOL
Posted on 13-05-2013 15:26 | By Colleen Spiro
It sound like a promotional ADVERTISEMENT.....it is a BUMPER YEAR FOR TICKETS. and it will about even if the tickets keep flowing....goodbye CBD...hello Fraser Cove, Bayfair and suburbs.
Empty CBD shops
Posted on 13-05-2013 15:32 | By YOGI BEAR
No wonder there are so many that are empty, becasue there are more fines has nothing to do with the CBD "is better" than before, it just means less people want to pay than before, that means there is a resistence to being ripped off all the time.
Stay away
Posted on 13-05-2013 16:45 | By Accountable
Why would anybody shop in the CBD? But there is a positive to all this and that is you can park on the streets for free with no WOF and rego worries after 4pm weekdays and 1pm Saturdays.Even the loading zones are available as all the parking wardens are at home resting their weary feet after another fruitful day.You would almost think they were working for themselves and not just the Council.
take this
Posted on 13-05-2013 22:01 | By Capt_Kaveman
i brought my car out of exemption but need a wof 1st stopped in the city at 9.10am for like no more than 4mins hello a ticket no wof man they quick anyhow continued for wof and was stamped at 9.55am passed my argument was since it passed it was of legal standard they did not care ans since then have never been to paid parking in ever since,Poseidon has a good point and the real figure last year was about 1.2mil only for council waste it on useless curbing like whats happening in the cbd and the likes of the boardwalk
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