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By TONI COLEMAN tonic@leader.net
Saturday, January 29, 2000 Page: 1A
WILKES-BARRE – The Parking Authority lost at least $65,000 in revenue last
year, and City Council members believe it is because motorists aren’t parking
in city garages because they don’t fear being ticketed at expired meters.
“If tickets aren’t being issued, they’re not going to park in the garage
where they have to pay,” Councilman Tom Leighton said at Thursday’s council
meeting.
The city has not hired an officer to ticket cars since Ed Soltis retired on
Dec. 5, 1999.
Councilman Jim McCarthy, a member of the Parking Authority, said he has
been warning Mayor Tom McGroarty about the running deficit for several months.
“People sit at a meter all day and they don’t pay a dime,” McCarthy said.
“Nobody likes to give out tickets, but at the same time nobody likes
scofflaws.”
The Parking Authority, which contributes $100,000 of its revenue to the
city’s coffers, may not be able to donate the money this year. The Authority
continues to lose several hundred dollars a week and McCarthy expects garages
to lose more. The Authority grossed $439,908 in 1999.
The Park & Lock on North Main Street may be closed for several months while
a two-level addition is being built if the city cannot get the contractor to
agree to work exclusively at night, McCarthy said.
McGroarty attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C. on
Friday and could not be reached for comment.
The mayor has said that writing parking tickets is a money losing venture.
The city does not collect enough parking ticket revenue to offset the costs of
paying for an officer’s salary and benefits, he said.
In 1999, parking ticket revenue was down more than $19,000 from 1998.
Tickets generated $117,797 in 1997, $117,710 in 1998; and $98,260 in 1991.
McGroarty said that because of the drought, the city couldn’t clean the
streets and issue the normal number of tickets to parked cars that inhibit
street cleaning.
Leighton and Councilwoman Shirley Vitanovec took the mayor to task on the
parking ticket issue, as well as a lack of police presence downtown.
William Isaacs joined the list of downtown merchants to publicly express
concerns about the lack of security downtown. He told the Council on Thursday
night that his South Main Street property has been vandalized several times,
including twice this month when his front door was smashed in. Overall damage
totaled $17,000, and his insurance carrier has dropped him, he said.
“It is my intent to absolutely demand a police presence in this area,”
Isaacs told the council.
McGroarty has said the city cannot afford to hire new officers and is
against raising taxes to expand the force. The police roster is down to 69
officers from 88 when McGroarty took office.
Call Coleman at 829-7236.