AgdaPkt 2011-01-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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6.3A Page 1 REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the Cit Mana er January 24, 2011 SUBJECT Introduce an Ordinance amending the Redwood City Municipal Code to increase the penalty for parking violations and adopt a resolution establishing penalties for Vehicle Code parking violations. RECOMMENDATION 1. Introduce an ordinance amending Chapter 20, Article VII, Sections 20.95.1, 20.95.2, 20.132, and 20.191 of the City of Redwood City Municipal Code to increase the penalty for parking violations by $5.00 to recoup the state mandated surcharge imposed by Senate Bill 857 and to align penalties more closely to those of surrounding municipalities in San Mateo County. 2. Adopt a resolution establishing penalties for state Vehicle Code parking violations to be increased by $5.00 to recoup the state mandated surcharge imposed by Senate Bill 857 and align penalties more closely to those of surrounding municipalities in San Mateo County. 3. Direct the City Clerk to transmit the updated schedule of penalties to the San Mateo County Traffic Court BACKGROUND California Senate Bill 857, effective December 7, 2010, amends section 76000.3 of the Government Code to include an additional $3.00 surcharge on all parking violations issued by local law enforcement agencies. Total state and county surcharges are currently $9.50 and will be increased to $12.50 per parking violation. These state and county surcharges are to be taken from the fines and forfeitures prior to any distribution of funds to cities and deposited with the county treasurer on a monthly basis. California Vehicle Code section 40203.5 requires issuing agencies, to the extent possible, to standardize penalties within the County. A survey of other issuing agencies within the County shows that Redwood City's fines are currently $5.00 lower than the average fine of those surveyed. Attachment 3 shows the current fines for five nearby cities in the County. The City of San Mateo and City of Belmont recently increased parking fines by $5.00, and the City of Menlo Park increased their parking fines by $3.00. The City of San Carlos and the City of Burlingame have no immediate plans to increase their parking fines. Although the new surcharge imposes a$3.00 increase, raising fines a total of $5.00 per violation will align the City's parking fines more closely to those of surrounding cities. It will offset the $3.00 in State surcharges and result in an increase of $2.00 in net revenue per citation. Based on the approximately 20,000 parking citations issued by 1