Matt Helms

Detroit Free Press

With parking tickets now costing $45 and a new, high-tech meter system seeing widening use, Detroit’s Municipal Parking Department is relatively flush these days.

Gone are the days when the city was spending about as much on processing tickets as it was on bringing in revenue from them. Revenue from parking tickets is up 30% this fiscal year compared to 2014, to $13 million, according to department figures provided to the Free Press.

Revenue per ticket written is up to about $55 (including late fees), compared to about $35 before the price hike.

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But revenue from parking meters is up even more, by 127%, at $4.2 million for the current fiscal year. Meters that frequently broke down have been replaced by new electronic versions that accept cash and credit cards and payment by the ParkDetroit smartphone app. The department expects meter revenue to rise to $4.7 million in 2017.

“We’re doing pretty well,” municipal parking Director Norm White said last week.

Yet the department is writing fewer tickets these days, down by about 15%, since the city a year ago launched its $3.5-million parking system using electronic kiosks.

It’s a major turnaround for a department that frequently frustrated drivers with 3,000 meters, as many as half of which weren’t working at any given time in recent years. The city replaced them with about 500 kiosks that are easier to maintain, driving down costs for the department.

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White said credit card payments and use of the ParkDetroit mobile app are increasing, and he encouraged people to sign up for the app available on iPhones and Google Android systems.

“Our whole goal is to reinforce parking behavior,” White said. “That’s why there’s an emphasis on using the parking system.”

That system also has made it easier for parking enforcers like DeAndre (Ponytail) Hubbard to do their jobs. Hubbard was featured on the show “Parking Wars” on the A&E cable network.

Hubbard said he averages 65-70 tickets a day but can go as high as 85-90. The new system uses a camera that scans license plates and runs the plates against a database of people who have entered their plates at a kiosk when they paid to park.

Once a plate is scanned, it takes only seconds for the computer to say whether the driver of the vehicle has paid up. With a few more clicks, out comes a freshly printed ticket inserted into the white envelope that enforcers put under windshield wipers.

“It’s really efficient,” Hubbard said last week as he scoured downtown streets for people parking without paying. “I really love the way it operates.”

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Hubbard said he still hears from drivers unhappy that the city raised parking tickets up to $45 — a controversial decision made by former emergency manager Kevyn Orr in 2014. Orr said at the time that the city needed the extra revenue, especially because it wasn’t making enough money on parking tickets.

Kerrick Butler of Troy, who frequently attends Detroit Tigers games, said he appreciates the ease of the new parking system.

"I love it," said Butler, who uses the mobile app. "It's helping the city bring in revenue. And it's building up downtown because now people can park and they don't have to worry about paying $20, $25 to park, and then they can enjoy things in the downtown area that are being renovated. It's a great tool to use."

It was a big change for a city that hadn’t increased parking rates since 2001. Detroit’s parking tickets had been $20, with a $10 discount if paid within 10 days. Critics said raising rates unfairly punished people in a high-poverty city. The decision, made as Detroit was fighting its way through Chapter 9 bankruptcy, was meant as a way to score more revenue for a city badly in need of it. Orr said at the time that the hike put Detroit more in line with what other big cities charge.

City officials say the higher revenues aren't any kind of bonanza. Profits from parking department operations go to the city’s general fund, but the city also has to use some of the parking revenue to pay off about $10 million in bonds under terms of its exit from bankruptcy.

In addition, some of the revenue has to be put aside for repair and upgrades at some of the city’s parking facilities, including the Ford Underground Garage at Jefferson and Woodward, White said.

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Contact Matt Helms: 313-222-1450 or mhelms@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @matthelms.