3578969

SJ Parking Fines Destined to Rise

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If you plan to try to park in a St. Joseph city park without a pass either on your dashboard or in your windshield you might be forewarned to the fact that the city is no longer going to be as tolerant of your attempt to thumb your nose at them. A parking fine ordinance amendment is on the docket for a first-reading tonight, and if it stands as proposed and eventually goes into effect violations will increase substantially.

Recent parking discussions, some of which stem from issues at beaches throughout the city, have resulted in city staff crafting a proposed parking fee structure that would hike violation fees markedly to keep people from arbitrarily trying to beat the system by thinking it's cheaper to pay a fine than for a parking pass or fee. 

The City Commission, Deputy Directors of Public Safety, City Manager John Hodgson and other staff members have talked at length about parking issues in the city and will take up an ordinance amendment to increase fines for general parking violations and handicap parking violations.

City Attorney Laurie Schmidt tells commissioners that fines for general parking violations, which include violations for no park pass and parking in a no parking zone are proposed to nearly triple from the current $15.00 to $40.00 if approved. Additionally, if the fine is not paid within 48-hours, it would increase by $10.00 increments over time until reaching a cap of $55.00 per incident. The annual park pass is $40.00 and it was used as a guide to determine an appropriate amount of the base fine. 

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Essentially, you would be better off buying an annual pass than risking a fine. 

Fines for handicap violations, according to Schmidt, are proposed to increase from $50.00 to $75.00. If the fine is not paid within 48-hours in that case, it will increase by $25.00 increments over time until reaching a cap of $150.00 per offense.

It should be noted that no proposed changes to hourly parking or overnight parking violations are included in this ordinance proposal. If the city commission concurs without changes tonight, a second reading would take place at the next session and go into effect shortly thereafter.

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