Boston parking fines may jump

Mayor's budget proposal envisions $13m from higher penalties

Drivers would be slapped with tickets as high as $100 for violating the city's parking rules in a series of steep fine increases proposed as part of the mayor's budget for fiscal 2009.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino's $2.42 billion budget, which was filed yesterday, would increase city spending by 5.1 percent and keep funding for basic services largely untouched while sprinkling new cash into several community initiatives. The budget and new fines, which would generate an additional $13 million in revenue, must be approved by the City Council.

Menino said the fine increases, such as doubling the penalty for parking in a handicapped ramp from $50 to $100, are overdue.

"This budget shows stability at a time of real uncertainty," Menino said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We have got to raise some new revenues to maintain that stability. Some of these fines haven't been raised in over a decade."

Drivers who park in front of fire hydrants and in fire lanes also would receive $100 fines, up from $75 and $40 respectively. The fire hydrant fine was last increased in 2000, while the fire lane penalty has been unchanged since 1991. Parking in a crosswalk would generate a fine of $85, up from $40.

The increases apply only to main thoroughfares of the city and the downtown area, city officials said. Except for a few small increases, fines on residential streets would be unaffected.

Councilor-at-Large Michael Flaherty is opposed to increasing the fines because they could encourage people to shop and dine outside the city, and could disproportionately affect city residents.

"Increasing fees and fines on the backs of working families and business owners will not solve our budget woes," said Flaherty, the vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. "Instead of driving people out of the city, we should be driving down costs of wasteful government spending."

Council President Maureen Feeney said the the proposed increases were "unpleasant" but ultimately may be necessary.

The budget "is resting on the back of our property tax, and with diminishing state support, I think that we don't have many other options," she said.

While cities and towns across Massachusetts grapple with teacher layoffs and cuts in public safety driven by increased education and healthcare costs and decreased state aid, Boston is leaning on the strength of its robust property tax revenue and tourism economy.

Budget writers say the city's effective state aid is declining slightly from last year because of increases in state assessments for charter schools and the MBTA. With interest on city investments down $16 million, or the equivalent of the entire parks and recreation budget, the city will depend more on property tax revenue, which is expected to jump $58 million, or 4.4 percent, to $1.39 billion, said Lisa Signori, chief of administration and finance.

In 2000, 50 percent of city revenue came from property taxes and 30 percent from state aid. The other revenue came from several categories, including fines and investment returns. This year, 57 percent of city revenue is projected to come from property taxes - the same as last year - while 21 percent of the revenue will come from the state. Last year's budget was $2.29 billion.

For the first time in several years, the budget does not include funding for new police officers. Instead, Menino has spread modest increases over several priorities, while keeping the police force at 2,235 uniformed officers, its highest level since 2000.

Increases in firefighter salaries are not included because the Menino administration remains locked in contract negotiations with the firefighters union.

The budget also includes $35 million in spending from the city's $110 million in reserves. Of that, $25 million is being placed into an account to cover future health insurance costs for city retirees.

The remaining $10 million will go to the city's school system, as part of a previously announced bailout to help new Superintendent Carol Johnson avoid school closings and classroom cuts. Still, the School Department is making more than $18 million in cuts to central office staff, teacher and principal training, and maintenance on school buildings.

"We were able to use that reserve, but that's only one time. After we do it this time, how do we do it next year?" Menino said. "Some of the other programs we would have liked to increase - music and arts - we weren't able to do that."

Sam Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, suggested the mayor's budget is "less conservative" than previous spending plans. He said there is less wiggle room to account for potential tax abatements, uncollected taxes, and the possibility that police and fire overtime will exceed budgeted amounts.

"There still is room in the budget for that situation, but there's less than we've seen in the past," Tyler said. "In a period of financial uncertainty, this is more of a maintenance budget trying to maintain a basic level of services. There's not much room for a whole bunch of new initiatives, but it's not a budget that is cutting back quite a bit."

To fund the mayor's plan to coordinate services at the city's schools, libraries, and community centers, the budget includes an $875,000 increase for the Boston Centers for Youth and Families. To offset decreases in federal housing grants, his budget includes $571,000 in new city funding for the Department of Neighborhood Development, which depends heavily on the annual grants.

There is $3.9 million more, a 14 percent increase, for the Transportation Department. That money will pay for better street cleaning, parking enforcement, and an overhaul of city parking meters. Meters will be rewired, damaged or missing meters will be replaced, and the city will add new meters along streets that had been marked for 2-hour parking.

Much of the city's parking-meter technology dates back to 1985, and regular repairs have been costing the city money, said Lisa Signori, the city's chief of administration and finance.

The budget includes substantial pay hikes for the city's four-member independent licensing board, which approves food and alcohol licenses for restaurants and hotels among other approvals. Two commissioners will get pay hikes from $60,000 to $85,000, the executive secretary's pay will increase from $60,000 to $92,500, and the chairman's pay will jump from $62,500 to $100,000.

The increases were established in a home-rule petition approved last year by state lawmakers, Signori said. The salaries salary's had been unchanged since 1995.

The administration will formally present Menino's budget proposal to the council this morning. The council must approve a budget by June 30.

John Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.