Denver says that boost in parking tickets has nothing to do with their
revenue shortfall, if you believe that then there is a parcel of swamp land
in Florida with your name on it.
The city of Denver is on course to write 670,000 parking tickets this year
for a record $20 million dollars going to the city coffers. Two years ago
Denver wrote 586,000 tickets and received less than 16 million in revenue.
According to articles I have read in the Denver Post Newspaper, the
Department of Public Works spokeswoman Ann Williams argues that the
84,000 ticket increase has nothing to do with the budget deficit. It just so
happens that the city parking enforcement officers are doing a better job.
It’s just coincidence that they happen to be doing a better job at a time
when the City of Denver and the State of Colorado are desperately hurting
for money.
It is not unusual for any city to use law enforcement as a means to enrich
their resources. Do not believe it when the head of the police department
tells you there is no mandate for traffic enforcement officers to issue traffic
(speeding) tickets. It may not be written on paper but the traffic officer’s
evaluation and standing is based on how many tickets they write. These
traffic tickets are a huge part of any municipality’s budget and cities expect
a set amount of money to come from traffic violations. Therefore whether
anyone wants to admit it or not, police departments are required to make
sure that this source of revenue stays constant or increases when there
are budget shortfalls. This also includes the states whose officers patrol the
highways.
This being said, what is the point of my writing? It’s just this, why lie to the
citizens who happen to be a little more intelligent than our public employees
and elected officials think we are? When asked “is traffic and parking
enforcement used to increase the budget”, the honest answer is yes.
Speed traps that ticket people for going 4 to 5 miles an hour over the
speed limit are not set up to save lives as the enforcement officers say.
They are to keep the revenue coming in. In fact some cities will artificially
lower the speed limit on a few streets to make it easier for the police to
catch and ticket speeders.
The same can be said about parking tickets.
Is using speed traps and parking tickets as a means of increasing proceeds
wrong? Absolutely not! Cameras at red lights, speed traps, unmarked traffic
enforcement cars and parking tickets are necessary for the city to receive
revenue and takes a little of the burden off of the tax payer. In fact the
people who drive at excessive speeds, road rage, or park in handicapped
zones should be caught and fined big time. However, our city and state
governments should just be honest with us and say that they are hiring
more parking and traffic enforcement officers to help with budget shortfalls
and not go on the record as denying they ever intended to use these
officers for that purpose.
As my mom always said “honesty is the best policy”.
