Jan 29, 2009 10:08 pm US/Mountain
Ticket-Writing On The Rise On Denver Streets
More Parking Tickets, More Revenue For City Of Denver
Written by Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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A Denver vehicle control agent at work.
CBS
Parking agents for the City of Denver handed out 6 percent more parking tickets in 2008 than the previous year, and parking ticket revenues shot up by nearly 20 percent, according to new figures released to CBS4.
But a spokesperson for Denver's Public Works Division says the city is not attempting to bridge revenue shortfalls by writing more tickets.
"I think its too easy of a connection to say that revenue from parking tickets would make up for a budget shortfall. The math doesn't add up," said Ann Williams, public works spokesperson.
In 2007, vehicle control agents issued 585,211 citations raising $16.4 million. But new figures show that in 2008, agents wrote 618,556 tickets for nearly $20 million in revenue. That's a 6 percent increase in ticket volume and an approximately 20 percent increase in revenue for city coffers.
The city says there are numerous reasons for the increasing number of tickets and revenue.
-- More people. Williams cites an increase in Denver's population and major events downtown like the DNC last August. She says more drivers downtown means more tickets.
-- More employees writing tickets. There were eight more vehicle control agents writing tickets in 2008 than in the previous year.
-- Repainted street signs. Williams said that in 2008, the city repainted some 8,000 faded and unenforceable street signs. Once those were done, enforcement began again in those areas leading to more citations.
-- Increased fines. Parking ticket fines increased in October 2007 contributing to the 2008 revenue increase.
Administrators with Denver's Right of Way Enforcement division also say ticket numbers are increasing thanks to newer technologies and new enforcement in some residential areas.
There may be other factors as well. Vehicle Control Agents -- the men and women who walk and drive around the city issuing citations -- are given strict quotas on how many tickets they should be writing every shift.
"We do not call those quotas," said Ann Williams. "We call them performance goals."
According to internal documents provided to CBS4, VCAs driving around handing out street sweeping tickets are given "exceptional" evaluations if they can hand out 90 tickets during their shift.
If they fall below 79 tickets a shift, they are graded as "needs improvement."
Ticket writing volume is one of eight measures that determine whether or not a VCA gets an annual raise. Some of the other measures are accuracy, court attendance and equipment care.
Different shifts and different beats are given specific ticket goals based on historic data, according to Williams.
Even VCAs on the graveyard shift -- members of the "Red Team" -- are each expected to hand out 65 tickets between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. to achieve an "exceptional" rating. Less than 54 tickets on the graveyard shift lands in the "needs improvement" category and could contribute to no pay raise.
An internal memo last September from a supervisor to "Red Team Members" made it clear they should be writing tickets, not dilly dallying around, even in the middle of the night.
"All time gaps of more than 15 minutes will be documented in detail to ensure the proper use of time," wrote supervisor Riene Candelaria.
"They were hired to enforce parking in Denver," said Williams. "When your job is to enforce parking that's what you need to be doing."
Williams said Right of Way Enforcement arrives at the "performance goals" based on historic parking ticket data.
"And if they are in an area that historically has this many citations, we expect them to be in the same ballpark, that's how we know they're doing their jobs. If they don't generate that many citations, we are going to ask them why."
Williams said the revenue figures for 2008 will likely end up even higher, since citations issued late last year are still being processed.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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