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Controller: Parking meters and citations recovered 91% of expected revenue; audit urges clearer rules and stronger enforcement
Summary
The City Controller's audit found combined parking meter receipts and citation revenue equaled 91% of realistic expected parking revenue, but identified $24.3 million in unpaid obligations and lower compliance among commercial vehicles; the MTA pledged targeted enforcement, technology pilots and hiring to close the gap.
The City Controller's office presented an audit showing the city collected $49.4 million in combined parking meter receipts and citation revenue in FY 2005–2006, equal to 91% of the $54.0 million the city could reasonably expect to collect after accounting for unavailable or exempt spaces. Joanne Held, audit presenter, told the Government Audit and Oversight Committee that maximum potential meter revenue was $127.2 million, but factors including out-of-service meters, unoccupied spaces and exempt vehicles reduce realistic expectations to $54.0 million.
The audit broke the $24.3 million in unpaid potential revenue into roughly $14.0 million attributable to unpaid commercial vehicles and $10.3 million from passenger vehicles. "Of that $54,000,000, $29,700,000 is actually paid as required," Held said, noting that an additional $19,700,000 came from citation revenue.
Supervisor McGoldrick, who requested the review, emphasized problems he sees in enforcement: "I asked the controller to please look into that matter," he said, citing disabled placard abuse and weak collection in commercial zones. The audit team recommended clarifying ambiguous language in the city's parking code (for example, whether commercial vehicles are exempt when actively loading) and strengthening enforcement for commercial vehicles.
MTA Deputy Ban Yi told the committee the agency agrees with the audit and described a package of responses: hiring up to 50 parking control officers (11 already onboard and a second class of 11 in training), targeted "strike teams" to address disabled-placard abuse, and technological pilots including license-plate recognition scanners and in-pavement occupancy sensors. Yi also described payment pilots (credit-card payment on Columbus Avenue and an upcoming cell-phone payment pilot for selected lots) and work with Public Works to recoup revenue lost during construction.
The committee requested follow-up data on citation issuance and persistence (how many citations resulted in revenue after appeals) and asked MTA to return with enforcement metrics. The item was continued to the call of the chair for MTA follow-up.
