Incoming Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki has another issue to deal with as an audit shows widespread problems with parking payment and tickets in the city.
Wilmington-based AAA Mid-Atlantic filed a Freedom of Information Act Request for any audits the city of Wilmington has completed on its parking meters and ticket appeals process.
Two audits completed in 2014 and 2015 were delivered to AAA last week.
Problems with parking tickets and their effect on the business climate in the city have long been an area of concern. Also, Wilmington has lagged behind Newark and Rehoboth Beach in modernizing meters and systems.
According to an AAA release, the audits showed the following:
- No evidence of analysis on purchase of new meter equipment
- Lack of contract performance by vendor (no functioning sensor equipment for 19 months)
- Incomplete Kiosks Deployment (only four of the 12 kiosks purchased have been installed)
- Management forgoing less expensive option of meter installation
- City is behind advances in parking meter technology
- Estimated loss of revenue per month for broken smart meters – $1,182.30
- Estimated loss of revenue per month for broken coin meters – $8,318.18
- Estimated loss of revenue per month for Kiosks – no significant loss because repairs occur on the same day as breakage.
The audit did not deal with the high cost of parking tickets that have aggravated visitors in a city where spaces are often easy to find.
The Internal Audit on Civil Appeals Operation:
- Analysis of 82 parking tickets adjudicated by the Delaware Justice of the Peace Court from November 1, 2013 until March 20, 2014 revealed the average number of days between ticket issuance and adjudication to be 404 days, with the shortest time being 114 days and the longest being 892 days
- Examination of the Office of Civil Appeals’ Parking Protest List from November, 2013 to March, 2014 revealed that of 1,651 appeals there were 585 voids that included 63 voids with no explanation.
“We’re reasonably asking why these issues have gone unaddressed, especially at a time when everyone wants to make Wilmington more inviting, including bringing parking up to par with the likes of less-populated cities in the state,” said Cathy Rossi, vice president of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Club Alliance. “Audits clearly show multiple inefficiencies and missed opportunities. AAA knows that a well-run parking enforcement operation incorporates, wherever possible, intelligent transportation systems in parking management, including pay-by-phone applications, spot availability notifications, and, where justified, variable meter pricing.”
Rossi continued, “AAA will work with the city as much as it wishes to address and improve its parking program. By fixing parking problems, we can be paving the way for a better quality of life for residents and visitors, enabling economic development, and creating a more efficient, citizen-friendly city government,” said Rossi.
AAA recommended the following:
- Implement the use of a mobile parking app, like many other cities of all sizes (Rehoboth, Lewes, Philadelphia, Ashville, Omaha, etc.) have successfully done in the past few years
- Move Parking Enforcement from the Department of Finance back to the Department of Public Safety
- Dedicate revenue from Parking meters, tickets, and fines specifically to transportation and infrastructure programs in the city of Wilmington
- Conduct a thorough review of parking ticket appeals, many drivers have complained about either paying for the same ticket multiple times and/or being told their ticket was dismissed only to find out later they were still being forced to pay for the ticket with late fees
-Create a more open and transparent parking ticket appeals process – set a firm deadline of 120 days to resolve disputed parking tickets, any tickets not adjudicated in that time would be dismissed.
