LAKEPORT ? How to cover a $4.50 increase in the state”s portion of parking penalties is at issue as the City of Lakeport considers its budget.
The state takes a portion of the fines city and county agencies collect for parking violations. Senate Bill 1407 added a $4.50 “state court construction penalty” to parking violation fees when it went into effect on Jan 1. The city raised its parking violation fees in March, prior to learning about the increase in May, according to City Clerk Janel Chapman.
Chapman said a resolution is being drafted to increase the city”s current parking violation fines again, this time by $4.50 to cover the state”s cost. The resolution would need approval from the Lakeport City Council.
“After we added our increase to the fees a couple of months ago, we were notified in the last couple of weeks that the state was going to raise more money for its deficit by raising the state”s court fees,” Lakeport Mayor Ron Bertsch said. “So the increase we put in got ate up, and we”re looking into whether to do that or not.”
The city”s parking citation fees increased March 25. Some were more than doubled. Interim City Manager Kevin Burke told the council the fees hadn”t been raised for more than 10 years prior to that. He said the fines were low when compared to those of nine Northern California cities, and weren”t high enough in some cases to deter parking violations.
The fines that increased the most included the $17 fine for storing a vehicle on the street longer than 72 hours, which was raised to $75. The $17 fee for parking at a red curb went up to $50; and the $275 fine for parking at a blue curb or in a space designated for handicapped parking went up to $300.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
