We contacted Mark Rudometkin, director of Parking and Transportation Services, to get more information on whether or not it has been giving out more citations this semester in comparison to past semesters.
All revenue coming from parking citation and forfeitures on campus goes directly into the department to maintain projects, parking lots and alternative transportation programs on campus, such as Zimride, U-Pass, shuttles and carpools. As stated in a previous Daily 49er article, the California Education Code mandates that state university parking fine revenues “shall be used exclusively for the development, enhancement and operation of alternate methods of transportation programs for students and employees.”
With budget cuts and a rocky economy, some may feel as though students are receiving more citations in order to earn an extra buck for the school’s benefit.
Rudometkin maintains that this is not the case. He said there has been little change in the amount of citations issued this semester.
“It has been consistent with the past years,” he said.
According to university documents, in the 2007-08 fiscal year, the department had a total of 30,834 citations. In the 2008-09 fiscal year, there was a total of 27,735 citations. However, this fiscal year has so far netted 11,505 citations. The current fiscal year ends in June 2010.
All leftover balances from total revenue made by Parking and Transportation Services — including citations, forfeitures and DMV remittances after investments — is carried over to the next fiscal year and used toward expenses and projects for the department.
Rudometkin said Parking and Transportation Services is enforcing the parking rules in all areas and checking all lots thoroughly, including staff and employee lots, but that there is no set quota of citations that must be met.
To generate revenue, the department requires parking permits in all lots on campus.
CSULB did, however, see an increase in parking rates in July 2008, going from $98 to $123. This raises the question: Will we see another increase anytime soon?
“[It is] a goal of ours to try to maintain parking rates as long as possible,” Rudometkin said. “We want to generate revenue without increasing student parking rates.”
Students at other colleges pay the same or more compared to CSULB. For example, Cal State Fullerton charges $162 per semester, Cal Poly charges $115 per quarter, Sacramento State charges $153 per semester, Cal State Los Angeles charges $90 per quarter and Cal State San Bernardino charges $84 per quarter for general parking.
Parking citations range from $45 for an invalid parking permit ticket to $335 for parking unlawfully in a disabled parking space — and the numbers are always changing.
According to Rudometkin, the Senate passed a bill charging an extra $4.50 on parking citations for court fees. In order to offset that increase, CSULB made an increase of $5. Because of the change in citation prices, there is a direct effect in revenue numbers coming into the department.