During the last school year, UW took in about $900,000 while issuing nearly 30,000 tickets. That is less than half of the amount collected in 2004 when UW took in nearly $2 million in citation revenue and issued close to 57,000 tickets.
Gordon Graham, UW Transportation administrator, said the more than $1 million annual gap in citation revenue is directly correlated to the department’s shift in focus from one of pure enforcement to one of education.
“We wanted to align our priorities with the university’s strategic goal of putting education and outreach ahead of enforcement,” Graham said.
One factor contributing to decreased citations and revenue is that over the past five years, people who have appealed a citation have gotten it dismissed more than 75 percent of the time.
Kim Henderson, who manages UW’s citation appeals process, said most dismissals go to newcomers and first-time offenders who are unfamiliar with the parking regulations of a big campus.
Over the past two years, Transportation Services has paid UW’s DoIT task force $25,000 in an attempt to overhaul the department’s outdated website. The department has also replaced all of the parking lot signs on campus and trained their enforcement officers to emphasize a dialogue with the motorist.
Patrick Litza, field service manager in the Transportation Department, said parking enforcement officers are given the authority to use discretion when it comes to issuing citations.
“Rather than getting a citation the first time, we now instruct our officers to issue a warning to a motorist who is clearly unfamiliar with the rules,” Litza said.
Heather Bierman, a UW parking enforcement officer, said she still issues a ticket nine out 10 times when the meter flashes zeroes and the motorist does not confront her. However, if the motorist does confront her, the policy of education kicks in.
Bierman said four out of five times, the owner of the car shows up to dispute the ticket.
“[This] is where our policies have changed,” Bierman said. “We emphasize educating that person who made a simple mistake or has extenuating circumstances rather than creating a conflict and frustration by writing a citation.”
Bill Richner, assistant vice chancellor in UW’s Budget Office, said although the annual citation revenue is down, Transportation Services is essentially a self-sustaining organization and the loss would not have any effect on the recently projected $50 million budget cut for UW-Madison.
Graham said only two percent of Transportation Services annual budget is contributed to the general university fund, meaning that revenue losses would not have a large effect on the university’s budget.
“We see the decline in citation revenue as a success because it tells us that our policy of education over enforcement is working,” Graham said.
