ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: November 24,1997

Author/Local:BMacdonald/7347

CC File No. 5654

TO:Vancouver City Council

FROM:General Manager of Engineering Services

SUBJECT:Parking Meter Program Review

RECOMMENDATION

A.THAT the following staff positions be established as regular full time to continue the management and enforcement of the extended parking meter hours, and the increase of fine levels approved by Council on February 20, 1997. Funding for these positions is offset by increased revenues.

Coin Collections - 2 Coin Collectors

Meter Maintenance - 1 Meter Technician

Parking Branch - 1 existing temp. EA1 to regular full-time

Parking Enforcement- 7 Parking Enforcement Officers

- 2 Administrative Staff

- 1 Assistant Manager (excluded position)

By-law Fines/Treasury - 2 Clerks

- 1 Data Conversion Operator

- 3 Process Servers

These positions will be subject to job evaluation by the Director of Human Resource Services.

B.THAT the following temporary staff resources be continued for the management and enforcement of the extended parking meter hours. Funding for these positions is from increased parking fine and parking meter revenues as shown in Appendix A. These positions are subject to future review as part of the continuing re-engineering and other process reviews that are presently taking place.

Meter Maintenance - 0.5 Temp. Meter Technician

Parking Branch - 0.5 Engineering Assistant II

Coin Collections - 2 Temporary Coin Collectors

By-law Fines - 0.7 Clerk II

Treasury - 0.5 Cashier

C.THAT Meter Checker and Parking Checker positions be merged effective January 1998 to allow more efficient use of these parking enforcement staff. The additional $50,000 cost of this change would be recovered from increased parking enforcement revenues.

D.THAT one time costs of $58,800, operating costs of $52,500 and $25,000 for the purchase of a vehicle for the parking meter shop as detailed in the report be approved. These costs are in addition to those funded in the 1997 budget with funding provided for the one time costs and operating costs to come from increased parking meter and enforcement revenue, and the vehicle from the plant account.

E.THAT staff continue to monitor parking meter requirement and make any necessary changes after public consultation.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The costs itemized in this report were previously reported to Council in the May 13, 1997 Council report and the September Budget review. The intent of this report is to formalize the positions and to provide for the organization changes. Offsetting these costs, are the parking meter and enforcement revenues which have exceeded earlier projections.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council supports the installation of parking meters to better regulate street parking in commercial areas with the support of local businesses.

Subject to Council discretion, any recommendations for increased staff or enhanced programs must be accompanied by recommendations for matching cost savings or related revenue increases.

SUMMARY

In February, Council approved the extension of parking meter hours to 8:00 PM and to Sundays and Holidays. On May 13 Council approved $600,700 in the 1997 budget that has provided for temporary staff and associated costs to implement and manage the extension of parking meter hours.

The implementation of the extended meter hours has been successful. Staff implemented this change ahead of schedule. This, combined with better usage, improved maintenance, and coin collections, has resulted in much greater revenues. After all the recommended program costs are paid, net revenues will be an estimated $875,000 greater in 1997 than expected and over $1,000,000 greater in 1998. As well, street usage in the metered areas has improved with more space available for customers and visitors. Some changes have been made to ensure the continued good use of the street, and staff will continue to monitor the meters and make changes as necessary after public consultation.

It is recommended that temporary staff positions be made regular full time, and that other costs including the continuation of some temporary staff needed to manage and enforce the extended hours be approved.

Staff members are continuing to review the parking meter operations and will report a number of other initiatives to Council as work proceeds.

PURPOSE

This report reviews the City's parking meter program, provides the detailed requirements for the extended meter operating hours approved and implemented this year, and recommends several service improvements and organizational changes.

BACKGROUND

On February 20, 1997 Council approved the extension of parking meter hours to 8:00 pm and to include Sundays and Holidays, with a report back on the increased staffing needs through the budget review process. Council also approved that all new revenues be implemented as soon as possible in order to reduce the amount of transition funding required in 1997. At that time Council also recommended that staff report back on the effectiveness of a change in impound authorization procedures following completion of the current trial procedure.

On May 13, 1997 Council approved the 1997 budget, including $600,700, for staff and associated costs to implement and manage the extension of parking meter hours.

RECENT ACTIONS

Staff implemented the extension of parking meter hours on April 9, 1997 and the parking fine increase on April 14, 1997. This work was completed ahead of schedule and will result in greater revenues this year than expected.

The coin collection operation has been transferred to Engineering Services from Finance and a senior manager has been working with staff to integrate this group into an expanded parking meter operation.

The Parking Enforcement group has also been working on improvements including a streamlining of their organization and greater empowerment of field staff.

Parking Meter Operations

The extension of parking meter hours into the evening and Sundays and Holidays has been a success. Meter usage has been much greater than expected in most areas. This has meant less use by area employees, and more parking for shoppers and visitors to the metered areas.

To ensure continued good use of the street, meter time limits were increased to three hours in parts of Downtown south. Several meters were also removed in the area east of Main street adjacent to St. James Church because of general under use.

Parking meter revenues are much greater than expected. Increased revenues from the parking meters was conservatively estimated to be $1,250,000 in 1997 and $1,850,000 annually. It is now estimated to be an increase of $2,475,000 in 1997 and $3,200,000 annually.

This increase in coinage has meant that two additional temporary coin collectors had to be hired. This brings the number of full time staff to 12, allows a 6 day operation with extended hours and ensures there is a minimal amount of money in any meter. It is also recommended that 2 temporary coin collectors that were initially budgeted and hired be made regular full-time.

The increased operating hours of the meters have increased the need for meter maintenance. Meter maintenance operating hours have been expanded to include weekends to deal with meter repair needs. It is recommended that 1 temporary meter technician position be made regular full time, and 0.5 of temporary staff be retained.

It is recommended that 0.5 Engineering Assistant be continued in the Parking Branch to provide analytical review of the parking meter and parking enforcement operations, to better deal with requests for new meters, to investigate new technologies, such as smart card use and in-vehicle parking meters, and to help monitor the changes to meter operating hours. It is also recommended that one existing full time temporary Engineering Assistant position that assists with meters and other parking activities be made regular full-time.

Parking Enforcement

Proper enforcement of parking regulations is essential if they are to be observed by the public. Enforcement staff were increased by 10 positions for the extended parking meter hours. However, this increase is 4 positions less than the prorated increase in parking meter hours. It is estimated that 440,000 violation notices will be issued in 1997. This is an increase of 60,000 from 1996 and reflects the increased staff and improved productivity. In 1998 it is estimated that an additional 100,000 violation notices will be issued.

As a result of the increased activity in the Parking Enforcement Branch, the branch has reviewed its organization. To respond better to the overall needs and staff hiring, it is recommended that a new position of Assistant Manager be created as an excluded position. In addition, following a successful trial where all staff were given impoundment authority, it is recommended that the function of parking checkers and meter checkers be merged. This will allow the more efficient use of staff resources as all staff, after a 6 month training period, will be able to issue impoundment notices. It is also recommended that the 10 temporary positions, created earlier this year to enforce the expanded hours, be made regular full-time, subject to approval by CUPE 15 on extended operational hours. These positions are needed to provide adequate enforcement and will generate an estimated annual surplus of $560,000 after all enforcement and by-law fines costs are paid.

By-Law Fines/Treasury

To continue to handle the increased number of tickets being issued, and to enforce the payment of these fines, it is recommended that two support positions, and one process server be made regular full-time. In addition, it is recommended that a temporary 0.5 cashier position be continued. There is also $38,000 for the purchase of furniture and computer equipment and $35,000 for ongoing expenses that were not provided for in this years budget.

With the recent changes to the organization in parking enforcement and changes to the by-law fines fine structure, there is a growing pressure to the overall collection process.

More attention needs to be paid to the collection of outstanding violation notices as payment rates are declining because of increased fine levels. The average value of a violation notice when it reaches the summons stage has increased from an average of $40 in 1995, to $50 in 1996, to $60 in 1997.

Increased fine levels have resulted in increased pressures on the customer service area of By-Law Fines. The number of tickets issued in 1997 has risen by 16%, the number of tickets disputed has increased by 30%, and the number of summonses issued has increased by 26%. These additional clerical tasks, along with a corresponding increase in public enquiries, make a good case to approve additional support. Thus it is recommended that a clerical support position be created.

There is a business case to hire more staff at the summonses service end of the collection process to ensure more violation notices are paid. The increased value of a summons, volume levels, and a current revenue/expense ratio of 3 to 1, makes for a good business case to approve additional process servers and it is thus recommended that two additional process server positions be created.

In addition, a pilot project completed this year, moved the sorting tasks away from the process servers, to a clerical support position, thereby freeing up more time for the process servers to serve additional summonses. The revenue/expense ratio of this action is estimated to be 5 to 1. Thus, an additional temporary position (0.7 FTE) is recommended to continue this pilot project.

For the future, there are more opportunities to improve the collection rate upon review of the use of better technology, alternative legislation, and other more convenient payment options. Work has started in this area and the results will be provided to Council at a later date.

FUNDING SOURCES

The source of funds for the increased parking meter operational costs is from parking meter revenues. The total operational costs represent approximately 10% of gross revenue. Appendix B shows the relationship between costs and revenues for the parking meter operations over the past 10 years.

The source of funds for parking enforcement costs is parking ticket revenues. Overall parking enforcement costs, including by-law fine collections, represent approximately 50% of total revenues.

Appendix A outlines the incremental costs and revenues for 1997 and 1998 related to the extension of meter hours and increased fine levels. In 1997 the extra net revenue is estimated to be $875,000 more than budgeted. In 1998 Council’s revenue target for increased revenue is expected to be exceeded by over $1,000,000. In addition to these revenues, there has been an increase in 1997 of $300,000 in fine revenue due to staff efficiencies and an increase of $1,100,000 in meter revenue due to a rate change.

PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS

A copy of this report has been sent to CUPE Local 15.

FUTURE INITIATIVES/REPORTS

Staff members are continuing to review the parking meter and parking enforcement programs. These reviews include:

-review to simplify the organization,

-potential for hand held automated ticket writers,

-the use of smart cards,

-the use of IVPM’s (In Vehicle Parking Meters),

-revised meter hooding practices,

-new collection cart design and collection procedures

These items will be reported to Council as work proceeds, along with any further changes required to respond to the recent expansion of the parking meter program.

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(c) 1997 City of Vancouver