DATE: Thursday, September 25, 1997          TAG: 9709250369

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   82 lines

NORFOLK MAY PUT PARKING TICKETS INTO PRIVATE HANDS

The city may soon get out of the business of writing parking tickets. But the number of tickets issued actually could increase as a result.

City officials have unveiled a proposal to contract with a private company to monitor parking meters downtown and to enforce parking rules citywide.

Farming out the chore, officials say, will save taxpayers money, increase the efficiency of collecting fines and be more ``customer friendly,'' permitting the possibility of letting first-time offenders off with just a warning.

But city staffers still have a selling job ahead.

Some City Council members voiced skepticism during a briefing on the idea Tuesday. As proposed, there would be an incentive for a private firm to increase the collection rate on fines or the number of tickets written - or both - to make a profit.

At a time that the city is pushing to revitalize downtown, the prospect of alienating shoppers with parking tickets was especially troublesome for some council members.

``It's almost like a bounty, and I don't want to get out too far on this,'' Mayor Paul D. Fraim said.

``We don't need a reputation that downtown is a place to get a parking ticket,'' said Vice Mayor Herbert M. Collins Sr.

Some council members, however, are sold on the idea, calling it a no-lose proposition.

``This is the type of thing that's good for privatization,'' said Councilman G. Conoly Phillips. ``This is a good deal for the city and we ought to quit jawboning about it.''

Iris Jessie, an assistant city manager, also said the city is under pressure from downtown merchants to ensure a steady turnover of parking spaces. That means enforcing parking rules, she said.

Increasing turnover was one of the reasons the city gave for dramatically raising parking fines two years ago. But public outcry prompted the council to lower the fine for meter violations from $30 to $15 in January 1996.

``We don't want to do things to keep people away from downtown,'' Jessie said, ``but at the same time, we have people pleading with us to turn over spaces for their businesses.''

Virginia Beach about five years ago began contracting with private companies to handle enforcement of parking rules and collection of fines, said Bob Gray, operations manager for the Beach's parking management office.

Norfolk's council plans to discuss the plan in more detail this coming Tuesday.

City staffers have narrowed their search from seven companies that offered proposals to one - a Fairfax firm, Sands Management Systems, a division of Vanguard Research.

Assistant City Manager Jessie said the city would save about $450,000 annually under the plan being discussed. The savings would come primarily from operational costs such as salaries for about 17 employees, uniforms and printing tickets, she said.

Jessie said Sands has offered to hire the city's employees, and other jobs would be found for those choosing not to move to the private sector. At the same time, Jessie said, the city would be guaranteed to receive at least $1.4 million annually from Sands. That's the amount of net revenue, after expenses of about $400,000, that parking fines generated for the city in the 1996-97 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Sands officials said they focus on cracking down on the collection of fines rather than issuing more tickets.

``It's not like it's a quota game,'' said Bob Lesando, a Sands executive. ``We try to do a better job of collecting that fine money and managing the tickets as they come in.''

Linda Davis, the city's parking administrator, said that the number of tickets issued has been declining steadily, and that hiring a private firm might bump the number back to previous levels. For example, about 63,000 tickets were issued in the 1996-97 fiscal year, down from about 94,000 in 1990.

Currently, the city's collection rate on fines is about 63 percent. The city now has a backlog of $1.5 million in delinquent fines, officials said.

Jessie said Sands has technological capabilities that far exceed the city's current operations, including hand-held, computerized ticket writers that would have cost the city nearly a half-million dollars to acquire.

With these computers, Jessie said, a parking monitor can instantly check license plates to determine whether the driver is a first-time offender. If so, the driver might be issued a warning. City monitors, who work for the Police Department, have no leeway to issue warnings under department policy, officials said. KEYWORDS: NORFOLK PARKING TICKETS

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