SANTA ANA : City Balks at Giving Parking Fees Back

Many Washington Square residents who bought annual parking permits a few months ago want their money back, but city officials say they’re probably not going to get it.

In May, the residents received letters urging them to buy permits for the 1994-95 year, and 285 of them did so.

But the City Council abolished the $20 fee for the permits, effective July 1. As a result, those who got permits before July 1 had to pay; those who delayed got them for free.

Many of those who paid now say they want a refund.

“The city is saying, ‘No, we’re not going to do that, we have your money now. That will teach you to be responsible, you fool,’ ” said Sharon Portman, a Westwood Avenue resident.

“It doesn’t bother me a whole lot to pay for a permit, I just think it should be done fairly. To charge some people and not others is the most un-American thing I’ve encountered here.”

However, Traffic Engineer T.C. Sutaria said refunding the money would be too costly and complicated.

“If we give a refund to one person, we have to give a refund to everyone. Then, what about the other 12 neighborhoods?” that were required to buy permits earlier in the year, he asked.

It would be difficult to prorate the amount of each individual refund. For example, a person who bought a permit last December would have gotten more use, and thus, less of a refund than a person who bought a permit in June. As a result, the cost of staff time used to refund the money might exceed the amount that was collected in the first place, he said.

Further, because the fees were collected at the direction of the City Council, they can only be refunded with the council’s permission, he said.

The parking permits were required in neighborhoods where parking spaces for residents were scarce.

Under the fee program, each household received up to three resident parking permits, plus an unlimited number of guest passes, for $20. City officials expected to generate about $75,000 through the fees, but actually received only about $7,700. Apparently, people began parking in their garages or driveways more frequently, Sutaria said.