Wednesday Write In: Fine waste of money

Fine waste of money

It has evolved over the years that what was once intended to be a deterrent to drivers from hogging parking places in high-traffic shopping areas, has long since become nothing more than a money-making racket for the council.

I don't think anyone, including the council itself, disagrees with this. I say this because I have challenged the motive for charging people for parking too long on the side of the road a number of times and the response is typically along the lines of: "Thank you for your explanation now show me the money."

You can almost see the smile on the manager's face.

Recent letters to your column over the amalgamation debate reveal that our council is $5 million in debt, which brings me to my point. The council appears to be commercially inept and this may go a long way in explaining why we are so far in debt.

Recently, my son received a parking ticket while parked in a back street tucked away on Onslow Rd on Bluff Hill.

He wrote in with an explanation but the usual "show me the money" reply was received.

But the interesting revelation in the letter, apparently fully endorsed by the manager, went like this.

"The issuing parking officer had observed the vehicle parked in the same parking space from 11.07am to 1.03pm."

Now in round figures this is a period of two hours that the parking officer apparently sat in a back street watching this vehicle. The financial yield was a $15 fine discounted to $13 if paid early.

The law provided by the council shows that the offence carries a fine of $12 for the first hour and $15 for the second hour.

The economics (or lack of them) should be obvious. The council paid its employee his/her hourly rate for the first hour to collect what would have been $12. Even at the minimum wages of $13, (which in my view would amount to gross overpayment for such a worthless service) the net loss would have been $2.

But it gets worse. The parking warden then sat there for another hour earning wages of more than $13 to yield the extra $2. So the end result of this financial exercise is that the council paid its employee more than $26 (probably over $30) to collect $15. If this exercise is a measure of our councillors' grasp on commercial common sense, it is little wonder we are so heavily in overdraft.

Gary Tayler, Napier

IN REPLY:

Parking officers will patrol areas and note vehicles that are present. They will issue infringement notices to over-time vehicles when necessary.

They generally would not have "sat there for another hour" after noting a vehicle but would have patrolled multiple locations, returning to ticket-infringing vehicles.

The parking officers work hard to ensure that parking is available to all members of the public. The time-restricted area on Onslow Rd mentioned in the letter is five minutes.

This area is given special attention as local residents periodically have difficulties with people attempting to park for long periods thus congesting the area.

While no system of patrol and enforcement is perfect, officers earnestly endeavour to ensure only those who deserve infringement notices receive them.

If someone genuinely believes they have been given a notice inappropriately they can approach us for a review.

Mike Webster,

Planning regulatory services manager,

Napier City Council