Missoula Commission Floats Parking Fine Increase

By Stefanie Kilts, 3-21-07

Missoulians will have more of an incentive to “plug” the meter downtown if the Missoula Parking Commission’s proposal for restructuring parking fines gets the City Council’s approval.

The proposal would increase fines for parking violations in the downtown area in an attempt to provide more parking availability and a greater parking turnover.

The fine for meter violation has been $2 since before the Parking Commission was established in 1971. The proposal would increase parking fines for meter violations from $2 to $5, overtime violations from $5 to $10, and improper violations that involve safety issues such as blocking roads or parking by the yellow line on streets from $15 to $20. The parking meter rates would stay the same under the proposal.

An informational public meeting on the Parking Commission’s proposal for the downtown area is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 140 W. Pine Street. 

The meeting will kick off with a short presentation on the proposal followed by a question and answer period with the Parking Commission Board of Directors, Parking Commission Director Anne Guest and staff members.

Guest said the issue of parking violations needs to be addressed in the interest of the downtown area. Missoula’s downtown has a lack of parking because the cheap parking fines currently in place are not forcing people to follow parking rules or use established parking lots.

The proposal would also change the graduated fine system currently used to a same-fee amount charged for each parking violation. Guest said 3,000 warning tickets would still be issued to out-of-town license plates for first parking violations.

In order for the proposal to go through, Guest said it will be submitted to the Downtown Association where it will go through a committee and then the full board. If the Downtown Association votes to support the proposal, it will then be submitted to City Council. City council will then conduct a public hearing and based upon comments heard during the hearing, the City Council will make a final vote for or against the restructuring of the parking fines.

The response on the proposal has been half and half, Guest said. “Parking is very personal,” she said, and while one retail owner may support it, another owner next door may be against it. However, she said everyone knew that the $2 fine is no longer effective in managing parking downtown.

Guest said the ticket revenue will probably decrease from the higher fines but the increase in meter revenue will be “a tremendous asset and critical to the future growth of Missoula.” Guest stressed that the funds will stay in the parking fund and will not go toward Missoula’s general funds and therefore, the money can then go toward improving Missoula’s downtown area. Future projects may include providing more parking and addressing transportation demands such as providing more bus passes and park-and-ride services.

People need to realize that parking in Missoula is still very cheap in comparison to other cities, Guest said. In the short term, the transition to higher parking fines may be hard, she said, but in the long term, the proposal would provide more parking availability and parking space turnover that will benefit the downtown area.