Committee advances ordinances to strengthen enforcement of parking revenue agreements

The Budget & Finance Committee on a November committee session advanced two ordinances meant to strengthen enforcement against private parking operators the City says have not complied with revenue agreements. Supervisor McRaeem, who introduced the items to the committee, said the measures give the treasurer’s and tax collector’s offices additional tools to recoup lost revenue.

"These two measures ... fortify the notion of increasing, from 2 to 8 tiers of bonding so that our liability is lessened," Supervisor McRaeem said, and they expand the City’s ability to seek injunctive relief where previously limited. He described the package as an alternative to putting a parking tax on the November ballot, intended instead to improve collection and compliance.

The ordinances amend provisions of the Business Tax Regulation Code, including changes to Article 22 concerning presumptions about who controls parking station businesses and revisions to enforcement authority under Article 6 of the code. Committee members heard no additional comment from the tax collector’s office during the committee meeting.

Public comment on the ordinances was opened and no member of the public spoke. Supervisor McRaeem moved to advance the two ordinances with a full committee recommendation; the motion was taken without objection. Victor, the clerk, told the committee the items will appear before the full Board of Supervisors in November 2010 for further action.

The committee record shows the measures were prompted by concerns that some private operators were "not playing ball" with the City’s revenue agreements; the ordinances increase financial assurance requirements and clarify enforcement authority but did not include any immediate changes to the parking tax itself. The committee advanced the measures to the Board with recommendation and no held votes at the committee level.