[This is a substantial rewrite of my initial post of March 9th]
Koordinates has recently moved into new offices on High St, in the Auckland Central Business District. High St is a fairly busy narrow one-way running parallel to Queen St, Auckland City’s main drag.
Soon after moving in, I noticed a high frequency of parking wardens ticketing vehicles along the street. It seemed they might be maintaining a constant “patrol”.
There’s good economic reasons for doing that, of course. High St:
- has a high “through-put”of vehicles
- has a range of boutique shops, cafes and ‘creative’ businesses (i.e. above average earners frequent them)
- is a short, flat and easy-to-walk road with a large number of vehicles parked in a small area (because it’s a narrow one-way with parking on either side)
- has restrictive parking policies
- has a number of “Loading Zones”, the meaning of which appears to confuse some drivers
These thoughts led me to wonder how much money the local council makes off parking infringement notices, and whether they financially reward parking wardens for higher ticket revenues.
To investigate matters further, I requested some statistics from the Auckland City Council under LGOIMA:
I’m looking for detailed statistics and revenue information for parking infringement notices issued to vehicles parking on High Street, Auckland CBD over the past three years (2007, 2008, January 2009). I’m also looking for information on the remuneration of parking wardens operating in the area over the same period of time – general salary levels, any bonus systems operating, particularly any salary components tied to ticketing or revenue performance.
The Council responded quickly with a “Request acknowledged” email + PDF. On 9 Mar 2009 they forwarded an email containing some statistics (see PDF linked below for more detail):
Parking fine revenue for High St, Auckland CBD, in 2008: $358,000
Infringement tickets issued: 7629 in 2008.
Average revenue per ticket: $47.
Average salary for an Auckland City parking warden in 2008: $42,285.81
Note the figures above exclude normal parking fees for street parking.
So assuming one full-time parking warden patrols High St on a salary of ~$43,000 + 25% overhead, the Auckland City Council makes a $304,250 paper profit on infringement notices for the street. However collection costs on some infringement notices could be very high.
In response to the query about parking warden renumeration:
Enforcement officers are remunerated on a competency based grading system. This system ranges from grade one to grade three. Within each grade there are three sub grades. The sub grades are reached through a series of competency assessments that are evaluated monthly for each officer. The competency assessments are made up of knowledge base and demonstrated competency. Each officer is evaluated on street by his or her supervisor monthly. This includes a working knowledge of the full range of infringement notices. Audits are completed on infringement notices as a part of the grading for effectiveness and detail on officers notes.
Officers are evaluated each month by a mystery parker, the rating system ranges from a A+ through to the lowest mark of a D. This is a third party evaluation and used as part of the overall grading system. Cancellations (officer error) are noted on the grading system.
This portion of the response is a bit vague, so deserves further clarification.
The next step will be to request similar information for a greater number of Auckland roads, and investigate the collection costs for parking infringement notices. Then we can whip up a quick map symbolising parking ticket revenue across Auckland City.
At least, we see those officers working on the streets.
I take your point, which is basically that the purpose of parking wardens is to collect “revenue’ for the council….
Having worked in retail on high street for several years, I am happy that parking wardens patrol it, People who tend to overstay the restrictions are other city workers. This is not good because people who want to purchase items from the shops are deterred for lack of parking available… hence the time restrictions imposed.
i disagree with the suggestion that the council targets above average income earners….. alot of our customers come from a broad spectrum of socio-economic backrounds.
The number of times I have seen a car parked in a disabled parking only area(with out a card) – is astounding.
basically I think limited parking results in having to pay for privilage- and if you go past the time you’ve paid for, then there needs to be a consequence…. to be fair….
Peace out