ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: April 23, 2003
Author/Local: rgm 7347/ rhy 257-8726
RTS No. 03340
CC File No. 5651
Council: May 15, 2003
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
General Manager of Engineering Services in Consultation with the General Managers of Human Resource Services and Corporate Services |
SUBJECT: |
Parking Operations & Enforcement Branch - Service Level Updates and Parking Meter Rate Changes |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the expansion of the Parking Operations and Enforcement Branch to deal with the increased demand for parking enforcement and coin collection activity due to the expansion of regulated and metered areas, technology change, and additional service demands since 1999, at an approximate annual cost (including adequate coverage for a 363-day/year operation) of $366,000 in 2003 and $512,000 annually thereafter, funded from increased parking enforcement and parking meter revenues).
i. 2.0 FTE 2 Parking Enforcement Officers
ii. 2.0 FTE 2 Superintendent I
iii. 1.0 FTE 1 Systems Analyst IA
iv. 1.0 FTE 1 Network Support Specialist I
v. 4.0 FTE 8 Regular Part-Time Coin Collectors
FURTHER THAT Council approve $50,000 for non-salary recurring operating costs ($30,000 in 2003)to support the staff funded from increased parking enforcement and parking meter revenues.
B. THAT Council approve:
i. the one time allocation of $50,000 from the Vehicle Plant Account for one subcompact vehicle and one van,
ii. $20,000 for five handheld computers and software, with funds provided from increased parking enforcement and parking meter revenues,
iii. $19,000 to future Operating Budgets for annual vehicle operating costs.
C. THAT Council approve the parking meter rate changes detailed in Appendix A, to be more compatible with off-street parking rates,
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services bring forward the necessary By-law changes to reflect the parking meter rate changes.
D. THAT staff report back on a long-term strategy for the City's Parking
Enforcement Program including compliance goals and sustainable staffing levels.
COUNCIL POLICY
On February 3, 1994, when approving the 1994-1996 Management Program, Council approved a policy that proposals for new programs and/or staffing should be accompanied by equivalent expenditure offsets or new revenues.
Council approves parking meter rate changes and increases in service levels; Council policy is to set parking meter rates to reflect market rates and to encourage turnover in street parking.
Council approves expenditures from Reserves, including the Truck Plant Account for the addition of equipment to the fleet.
SUMMARY
There is a need for staff changes in the Parking Operations & Enforcement Branch to respond to increased enforcement needs, public enquiries, technology change and security concerns.
To respond to increased enforcement needs, primarily from added meter spaces, commercial vehicle zones, and resident parking zones, the level of field enforcement needs to be increased by five officers. To accommodate this, it is recommended that two additional Parking Enforcement Officers be approved. The Branch is a 7 day 16 hour a day operation where staff are exposed to issues on the street and there is a need to provide adequate supervisory support. To provide this support and manage evening parking enforcement, it isrecommended that a Regular Full-Time Superintendent I be approved. To respond to an increased number of public enquiries and to support the handheld parking equipment, it is recommended that two existing temporary support positions be confirmed as Regular Full-Time (Network Support Specialist I and Systems Analyst I). As the latter three positions are currently back-filled on a temporary basis from Parking Enforcement Officer positions, these changes will mean an increase in field staff that will generate approximately $550,000 annually ($350,000 in 2003) to offset the $292,000 staff and $25,000 annual operating costs ($146,000 in 2003).
An increased number of parking meters, increase in meter revenues, and high security concerns have significantly increased the work for the Coin Collection Program. A detailed independent review of the operation was recently completed. It recommended increased and more frequent coin collection to meet increased demand, as well as safety and security issues. In the absence of frequent collections, the meters could quickly become targets. To meet these needs, it is recommended that an evening coin collection crew comprised of one Superintendent I, who will manage and provide supervisory support for the evening shifts, and eight Regular Part-Time Coin Collectors be approved at an annual cost of $220,000 for staff and $25,000 in associated operating costs. This would be offset by increased parking meter revenues.
Lastly, an adjustment of parking meter rates in part of the Downtown is recommended to reflect market conditions as shown on Appendix A. This is estimated to generate an additional $1,100,000 annually ($860,000 in 2003).
Overall, these proposed changes will offer improved public service, provide a strong response to security issues, and generate additional revenues in excess of their costs.
PURPOSE
This report reviews the parking enforcement and parking meter operations and recommends staff changes to respond to increased demand as well as safety and security issues. The report also reviews parking meter rates and recommends changes to better reflect localized market conditions in the Downtown.
DISCUSSION
The demands on the Parking Enforcement Operations have grown steadily each year. With increasing population, City street parking spaces are increasingly in demand and more regulated. The City has been able to maintain the operations and revenues due to general efficiencies and improved technology, particularly the handheld enforcement units. To some extent these changes have resulted in reduced field staff, as noted to Council previously, anddiversion of field staff to deal with office and support functions. A review of the overall operations indicates a need to formalize three technical and supervisory positions (which will free staff for field duties) and add two field staff. These changes will allow the City to maintain enforcement levels, and manage the added demands to keep the Transportation Plan objectives and overall Parking Operations running effectively.
Parking Enforcement Program
There are three areas where staffing changes are needed in the parking enforcement operations.
1) There has been an increase in the pressures on street parking and the number of regulated areas. These include an increase of 500 metered spaces since the last staff review, 50 added blocks of resident parking, and increased pressure to enforce commercial vehicle zones. Commercial zones in particular require increased staff, as reported to Council in 2000. Recent Court decisions require that officers must witness the misuse of such zones for 30 minutes before a ticket can be successfully prosecuted in Court. This results in significant costs in staff resources. Nonetheless enforcement activity must continue, particularly as recently increased Commercial permit costs have raised expectations that zones will be kept available. Therefore it is recommended that two added Parking Enforcement positions be funded. Also there is a need for one added vehicle and one bicycle to support this activity.
2) There are 30 full time equivalent staff on evening and weekend shifts. The evening and weekend enforcement program has not had adequate support and it is recommended that a temporary staff position be formalized. The position would be responsible for supervision, recruitment, training, Court liaison, scheduling and staff safety programs as well as increased WCB compliance regulations, and occupational health and safety issues. This position has been reviewed by HR Services and is recommended as an Enforcement Program Manager (Superintendent I).
3) The handheld units require added support, as reported previously, and with the evolution of computerization of parking operations and enforcement systems and processes, business applications require over 30 different databases in approximately six computer programs. All these various systems and components were introduced over the past six years to improve customer service and to improve the productivity of income generation / cost recovery and have needed to be supervised by technical staff. Therefore, the recommendation is to formalize two positions: one Systems Manager (Systems Analyst 1A) and one Handheld System Coordinator (Network Support Specialist I). These two positions are currently in effect on a temporary basis, staffed from within the Branch.
With all of the increases to the demand for service, there is a need to place five Parking Enforcement Officers (PEOs) on the street. It is important to note that parking enforcement and collection functions operate seven days per week, 363 days per year, with morning, afternoon and evening shifts. Therefore, the five additional staff will result in 1 or 2 additional officers per shift. This would be accomplished by creating two new PEOs, and by formalizing the three existing above-noted positions to free three PEOs to perform their intended duties on the street. The five officers will provide improved service the the public, and will generate ticket revenue in excess of their costs. The annual salary costs would be $292,000 with $25,000 in added operating costs.
Coin Collection Program
An increased number of parking meters, based on requests from the business community, increases in meter revenues, and high potential for theft have significantly increased the work for the Coin Collection Program. When the staffing levels of the Coin Collection program were last adjusted, the workload of the Coin Collection operation amounted to 22,600 meter visits per week. Since that time, increases in the number of meters and the need to collect from meters at a higher frequency has increased the number of meter visits to 32,000 per week. This increase in work has been achieved with no increase in staff. However, a recent detailed review of the operation was completed with the recommendation that additional collections be to deal with safety and security issues. To implement these recommendations will require a total of 42,000 meter visits per week, which cannot be accomplished without adding to existing staffing.
In order to maximize use of existing equipment and to respond to safety and security concerns, it is recommended that an evening coin collection crew be established. This would be comprised of eight Regular Part-Time Coin Collectors. With employees collecting coinage in the evening, it is necessary for them to have the support and security of a supervisor, in the form of a Superintendent I, who would be responsible for supervision, recruitment, training and staff safety programs. The annual cost for this operation would be $220,000 for staff and $25,000 in associated operating costs.
Parking Meter Rate Adjustment
Council policy is that parking meter rates reflect off-street rates to minimize circulating traffic, and that they be set to provide short-term parking for area visitors. A balanced rate between parking meters and off-street parking increases the availability of on-street parking spaces. This reduces the long-term parking usage of the meters, typically by employees, and reduces the traffic congestion created by people looking for parking.
Over the past several years, meter rates were adjusted in areas outside the Downtown core. The recent review indicates that rates should be adjusted in the Downtown core as shown in Appendix A. The meter rates for these proposed areas have not been adjusted for the last several years. Proposed hourly rate increases are: from $1.50 to $2.00 for approximately 207 meter spaces and from $3.00 to $4.00 for approximately 492 meter spaces. The anticipated increase in revenue would be approximately $860,000 for the remainder of 2003, and approximately $1.1 million in subsequent years, a 6% increase.
The proposed rate change has been discussed with the Downtown and Robson Street BIA's. Generally there is support for market pricing of parking. In this case the Downtown BIA recognize that weekday street parking rates can be changed to better reflect the market and improve the access to this highly convenient parking resource. They do, however, have concerns that the proposed increase may be high for weekend and evening parkers. The meters are in effect until 8:00 pm. They suggest the City work with the business community to examine the merits of variable pricing for some meters. Staff will work with the Downtown BIA to review this and other options, to ensure that the meters are meeting the community needs and provide good street usage.
The City also has several large parkades in the central downtown that provide alternative pricing structures for parking.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
The following summarizes the additional staff required and recommended in this report.
Proposed Addition to the Parking Enforcement Program
· 1 Enforcement Program Manager (Superintendent I)
· 1 Systems Manager (Systems Analyst IA)
· 1 Handheld System Coordinator (Network Support Specialist I)
· 2 Parking Enforcement Officers
(Note: since the first three of the above positions are currently in existence on a temporary basis, the approval of these five positions will effectively mean that five additional PEOs will be working on the streets.)
Proposed New Evening Coin Collection Program
· 1 Evening Coin Collection Program Manager (Superintendent I)
· 8 Part-Time Coin Collectors = 4 Full-Time Equivalent positions (FTEs)
The new positions identified above have been evaluated and confirmed for classification through Human Resource Services.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The recommended increases in staffing and resources are as follows:
Total annual salary costs - $512,000 ($366,000 in 2003)
Non salary costs (Uniforms etc.) - $50,000 ($25,000 in 2003)
Vehicle operating costs - $19,000 ($9,000 in 2003)
Handheld equipment - $20,000 (one time cost)
Fleet cost (two vehicles) - $50,000 (Fleet account one time cost)
These costs are offset from two sources, the increase in annual parking enforcement revenue generated by the five enforcement staff of $550,000 ($350,000 in 2003), and increased annual meter revenue handled by the coin collectors of $6,000,000 annually since the last review plus an estimated $1,100,000 in future years ($860,000 in 2003). The detailed staff costs are shown on Appendix D.
This report has been forwarded to CUPE local 15.
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APPENDIX A
Page 1 of 1
APPENDIX B
Page 1 of 1
APPENDIX C
Page 1 of 1
APPENDIX D
Parking Enforcement and Coin Collection
Detailed Staffing Costs
Evening Coin Collection Crew
Pay Rate |
Hours |
Salary |
Benefits |
Total | |
Superintendent I* |
$28.94 |
2824 |
$81,731 |
$16,346 |
$98,007 |
2-P/T Coin Coll. |
$16.76 |
1634 |
$27,337 |
$3,286 |
$30,663 |
2-P/T Coin Coll. |
$16.76 |
1634 |
$27,337 |
$3,286 |
$30,663 |
2-P/T Coin Coll. |
$16.76 |
1634 |
$27,337 |
$3,286 |
$30,663 |
2-P/T Coin Coll. |
$16.76 |
1634 |
$27,337 |
$3,286 |
$30,663 |
Total staff cost |
$220,729 |
* includes backfill costs to provide year round coverage for 363 days
