GLENDALE : College Parking Fines to Increase $5 Each

Glendale Community College trustees have approved $5 increases in parking fines that could generate revenues totaling $20,000 for the 1993-94 school year.

The boost was necessary “to bring it more in line with the other (parking enforcement) agencies in the area,” Mike Southerland, director of college safety, said Friday.

It was the first time in three years that the fines have been hiked.

Parking in a red zone, for example, will now cost $30, up from $25. Illegally parking in a zone for the handicapped, will also climb $5, to $55--a fine that could double pending discussions with board members and administrators. City officials charge $275 for the violation.

Southerland said college parking officers issue an average of 750 to 1,000 tickets a year, 95% of which are violations for not displaying a valid parking permit, which has increased to a $24 fine.

The estimated $20,000 in revenue would be a sharp jump from previous years, mainly because Glendale college no longer sends tickets to Glendale Municipal Court for processing. In the past, city and county officials collected 75% of the fee payments, leaving the college with only 25%, or an average of $2,000 a year, Southerland said.

When trustees voted in February to hire a Phoenix-based agency to collect and process the tickets, the college was able to collect 75% of the payments, while city and county officials took in the rest, he said.