Calabasas : 4 Cities Form Group to Handle Ticket Revenue

Four area cities are planning to join forces to process parking tickets more effectively.

The cities are forming the Las Virgenes Parking Administration, which will oversee distribution of revenues from parking tickets issued in Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills and Westlake Village, Calabasas City Clerk Robin Parker said.

The Calabasas City Council has accepted the plan, Parker said, and the other cities are expected to follow suit. Under the system, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department--as it has in the past--will issue traffic tickets.

Beginning in December, a Tustin firm, Turbo Data Systems, will begin processing citations and collecting payments, Parker said. The firm will receive $1.12 for each citation, plus certain administrative costs, such as $10 for conducting administrative hearings, Parker said. It will also deal with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

All revenues will be deposited into a checking account for the Parking Administration that will be overseen by the city of Calabasas, she said.

In the past, parking tickets were handled by the courts, which collected the revenues and passed them to the cities. But a state law that went into effect in January, 1994, mandated that cities take over the job.

The four cities, which formally contracted individually with another firm, joined forces to save money, Parker said. Calabasas took the lead “to be a good neighbor,” she said.

In 1994, 745 parking tickets were issued in Calabasas, 513 in Agoura Hills, 197 in Westlake Village and four in Hidden Hills. Parker said Calabasas receives about $25,000 a year in revenue from parking citations.