A request to raise parking fines by the Calgary Parking Authority has been denied by a city hall committee.
The bid, which the CPA argued could have potentially added $1.8 million to the city budget, was soundly denied by aldermen at yesterday’s Land Use, Planning and Transportation committee meeting. The CPA wanted fines increased from $50 to $70 next year and it also wanted to raise the early bird payment incentive from $40 to $45.
“The CPA seeks no benefit from this, only compliance,” said Dale Fraser, general manager of the CPA. Fraser explained to the committee that the raising of the rates was meant as an enforcement tool in order to battle the slew of parking violations in Calgary’s downtown core.
However, aldermen were unconvinced.
“If it’s a question of enforcement then they should issue more tickets, not raise the prices,” said Andre Chabot, Ward 10 alderman.
The CPA presented the committee with the reasoning that it needed to increase its revenue because reducing the parking rates downtown could potentially cost them $1.4 million.
The lack of a report of official numbers on subjects like repeat offenders by the CPA was a sticking point for Ald. Dale Hodges.
“They mentioning having a report but I haven’t seen it, and with no report and no rationale comes no fine increase,” he said.
“There is no lack of revenues for the parking authority.”
