No snow, but no parking anyway
Vigorous enforcement, higher fines equal richer Rutland coffers
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By Brent Curtis Herald Staff - Published: January 8, 2007
Rutland residents have been cleaning more orange than white off their windshields this winter.
A month into what has been a winter season almost without snow, city police have issued roughly 300 bright-orange tickets for violations of the city's winter parking ban.
The ban, designed to clear the way for snow plows, was actively enforced last month even though plows were called out only once at the end of the month.
"We've been pretty successful getting cars off the main road," city Police Lt. Kevin Geno said Tuesday. "Our guys have been tagging whatever's on the street until people get used to the ban."
It's been a painful lesson for violators.
While the ban isn't new to Rutland, the $50 fine is. In years past, violations of the parking ban carried a $10 fine. But the city's Board of Aldermen voted in August to increase the fine, along with those for a number of other parking infractions. Their goal was to increase revenue and bring the penalties for violations in Rutland in line with those of other municipalities in Vermont.
The orange tickets are bringing the city a lot of green.
Rutland's outdated parking ticket tracking system makes it impossible to say exactly how many parking ban tickets have been issued this winter.
The city Treasurer's Office reported that 323 tickets carrying fines of $50 or more were issued during December, but that ticket total includes other tickets that carry a $50 fine, such as parking on a crosswalk, in front of a fire hydrant or in a handicapped-designated space.
But compared to November, when only 22 of the $50 fines were issued, it's likely that a large part of the January total was due to winter parking ban violations.
The 323 tickets carrying a $50 fine are worth at least $28,800 to the city — more than the sum of their face value because tickets that aren't paid on time double each week until the penalty reaches $200. The city has collected $4,250 from 78 of those tickets so far and 39 other tickets worth $4,000 were dismissed after appeals to the city attorney's office. That leaves$20,550 worth of outstanding tickets, whose value to the city continues to grow.
Due to the cumbersome nature of the city's ticket tracking system, officials in the Treasurer's Office said it's impossible to pinpoint the locations where the bulk of the tickets are issued, or which vehicle owners have been paying the most. Clerks in the Treasurer's Office said they haven't heard any complaints about the tickets this year.
However, upstairs in the city attorney's office, Assistant City Attorney Henry Brislin said the bulk of the appeals he heard last month dealt with parking ban infractions.
"It seems that way to me," Brislin said. "I think it's the monetary increase that's hitting them over the head this year."
The bad news for most residents is that while Brislin and the office have overturned more than three dozen tickets so far, few of them were written to people living within city limits. But for those who receive a ticket while visiting in Rutland, there's hope.
"A lot of times if it's someone who doesn't live in the city and know the rules, we'll consider the appeal," he said.
While many communities in the state have winter parking bans, there are variations in enforcement and the amount of fines.
In Burlington, for example, the $75 fine for violating the parking ban is harsher than in Rutland, but the ban isn't in effect all season long.
Burlington maintains a warning system of yellow lights mounted on utility poles throughout the city. When activated, the parking ban is in effect. But when snow isn't in the forecast and the lights aren't active, street-side parking is allowed.
In Brattleboro, the parking ban is even more lenient — for this year at least.
Brattleboro Police Capt. Steven Rowell said a personnel shortage has prompted police officials to forego nightly ticketing until the first sizeable snowstorm arrives.
"In a snowless winter in which we're short five officers, we don't feel that paying overtime to issue tickets is in the best interest of the public," Rowell said. "The reality is that with no snow, there's no reason to be hammering people over parking tickets when we don't have the resources to do so anyway."
However, Rowell said that once the town plows are called out, Brattleboro police will begin issuing tickets on a nightly basis to violators.
Rowell also said his attitude about enforcing the ban might be different if he were in Rutland. In Brattleboro, where parking ban penalties start at $6, Rowell said it's not worth his officers' time to write tickets.
"If we were getting $50 from each ticket, it would pay for the overtime and make it worthwhile for us to do," he said.
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
Possible pull quote
"The reality is that with no snow, there's no reason to be hammering people over parking tickets when we don't have the resources to do so anyway," Brattleboro Police Capt. Steven Rowell
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