Newcastle City Council chief executive officer Jeremy Bath says he has no intention of bowing to state government pressure to cut parking fines.
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NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced this month that the government would cut a range of the parking fines it issues – about 10 per cent of the state total – from a minimum of $110 to $80 and would give councils the freedom to follow suit.
Mr Perrottet, who last week tabled his final budget before next year’s state election, said on a visit to Newcastle on Wednesday that he would “name and shame” councils which did not lower their parking fines.
“Councils have had it too good for too long, and they’ve been, in my view, in a number of cases using fines as cash cows and blaming the state government,” he said. “So what I’m saying to councils, and I say this to Newcastle City Council, cut your fines.”
He said he had given councils the “flexibility” to reduce their fines and intended that every council would be rated based on its level of fines.
“This is about making sure parking fines are about fairness and not about revenue raising,” he said. “For way too long councils have charged people too much on their fines. They are disproportionate to the offence.
“I call on Newcastle City Council – I call on the Labor party – to get out of the way and cut the fines and do the right thing by the ratepayers.”
But Mr Bath told the Newcastle Herald that cutting fines would be counterproductive given the disruption caused by building projects in the city.
“Parking fines are forecast to contribute $3.5 million to council's 2018-19 budget,” he said.
“If I reduce the size of a parking fine by 25 per cent, I immediately reduce people's willingness to comply with parking rules. This in turn reduces turnover of car parking spaces in the city.”
He said the CBD had lost almost 1000 car spaces due to light rail construction and other development work.
“While more than 3600 car spaces have been approved for the city in the past two years, almost all are contingent on the construction of associated development,” he said.
“This work takes time, and as such council is considering how it can increase the turnover of car spaces. Reducing parking fines would, quite frankly, be counterproductive to this effort.
“Of course, any debate about the fairness of parking fines would be redundant if people simply followed the parking regulations.”
The council made $7.644 million in parking revenue in 2016-17, up $772,000 on the previous year, and $3.672 million in parking fines, up from $2.877 million.
Parking fines in Melbourne range from $79 to $159. Brisbane City Council imposes fines of $94 for overstaying parking limits.
The state government also floated the idea of a 10-minute grace period for tardy drivers before fines are issued as part of a review into all non-safety-related road penalties.
But Mr Bath said Newcastle council already gave motorists 10 minutes’ leeway on overdue meters.
