Parking spot of bother Jen Kelly and Keith Moor 06apr06 Herald Sun
MELBOURNE City Council reaped almost $50 million in a parking fees and fines bonanza last year -- then jacked up hourly meter fees yet again.
Meter fees jumped from $3 to $3.50 an hour in January, hot on the heels of an increase from $2.40 last July -- a 46 per cent rise in six months.
The council's yearly haul from parking fees has soared 37 per cent in five years, hitting $20.1 million last financial year.
It reaped another $26.6 million from parking fines in 2004-05.
Lord Mayor John So and chief executive David Pitchford ducked for cover yesterday, refusing to speak to the Herald Sun to answer questions about the council's huge parking fines bungle and their knowledge of strict quotas imposed on parking officers.
A State Ombudsman's report reveals Melbourne's 120 parking officers were threatened with the sack if they did not hand out at least 30 fines a day.
It has also emerged the Docklands Authority offered two council employees $1 a year to try to get around the parking ticket blunder.
The council was given legal advice that thousands of parking fines issued in the Docklands area were not enforceable.
On receiving legal advice only Docklands Authority employees could enforce parking tickets, the authority tried to appoint two council employees for $1 a year. Both refused.
Deputy Ombudsman John Taylor said the council was sub-contracted to handle parking enforcement for 28 other organisations.
Corrs Chambers Westgarth law partner Richard Leder said every person who paid a parking fine in the Docklands area between 2002 and 2005 -- plus all those issued in the other 28 areas if the same mistake was made -- would have good grounds to claim their money back.
"And that is irrespective of whether or not they were illegally parked," he said.
"The Ombudsman has found those issuing the tickets were not authorised to do so, or were not legally in a position to enforce them, and therefore there was no necessity for anybody to pay the fines."
Cr So said in a statement anyone who received an improperly issued fine should receive a letter from the council and would get a refund.
The only person the council would allow to speak on its behalf yesterday was Cr Brian Shanahan, the finance committee chairman.
He said there would be a culture change in the parking branch, with less focus on revenue raising, but could not answer whether officers would be told they no longer needed to book 30 cars a day.
Drivers seeking off-street parking have been hit just as hard as those parking on the street.
A controversial State Government $400-a-year parking tax on long-term spaces began on January 1 and will double next year.
KPMG chairman of partners in Victoria Michael Andrew said the company had been hit hard by the $400 annual levy on each of its 250 car spaces -- costing $100,000 a year.
Mr Andrew said the tax was designed to ease congestion, but was having the opposite effect.
"The parking levy is making on-street parking cheaper than off-street parking, so it seems to be counterproductive," Mr Andrew said.
"It's just a blatant revenue grab and there's no justification."
The parking fee jump and soaring petrol prices are blamed by council officers for an expected $4 million hole in the budget this financial year.
It is bracing for a $3 million shortfall in meter fees and a $1 million shortfall for fines as people ditch their cars in favour of public transport.