Parking violation tickets to go up by $10 in Halifax

Paid parking violationtickets are going up in the Halifax area by $10.

On Tuesday, Halifax regional council voted 15 to twoto change the fee from $35 to $45 or $40 if paid within seven days.The fee will likely come into effect in the fallafter the municipality consults with the province.

"Parking downtown is easy, parking is relatively cheap. It only costs a couple of bucks to park downtown. I think it's totally fair," said Coun. ShawnCleary, who voted in favour ofthe increase.

"If the businesses were against this, we would be inundated with letters saying, 'Don't do this thing' ... Most of the small businesses that I know want turnover in those public parking spaces."

Cleary said he did an experiment over a month and a halfto see if people actually get a ticket for being five or 10 minutes over the parking meter time. In six instances, he said he paid for 15 min worth of parking and waited an extra five to 10 minutes to go back to his car to see if he was ticketed. He said it never happened.

"I don't think our parking enforcement staff are running around looking for that person who is one minute over... I think that is more urban myth than it is reality."

Coun. Tim Outhitvoted against the fee increase.

"I just find it a little ironic that bringing your dinner receipt will expunge your ticket,"Outhitsaid, referring to a program that started this month and runs until the end of September.

Under the temporary program, people who produce a receipt ofleast $35 from a local business, made within three hours of receiving aparking ticket, can apply to have their pay station violation ticket waived.

Coun. Waye Mason said most of the paid parking violation fees are generated in his district in downtown Halifax. He said the cost to park for a day downtown is between $25 to $30 in a parkade.

"If we want to manage the parking on the street and make sure we have available parking... I think that we need to raise the ticket price," said Mason.

A staff report on the issue estimated raisingpaid parking violations to $45 would result in $300,000 to$450,000 in extraannual revenue.