There are at least two ways to boost city revenues, using the highly paid Toronto police service.

Have them issue more traffic summonses. And be vigilant in collecting the fines from the offenders. Toronto is failing on both counts.

While Mayor John Tory goes about announcing new initiatives to clear the roadway of parking violators during rush hour, he has failed to plug a leak that’s bleeding away millions of dollars.

First, Toronto police has failed to adequately explain a 33 per cent drop in traffic summonses issued between 2013 and last year. (The drop-off has cost the city $30 million, council’s budget heard Monday.) And the city’s finance bureaucrats are shaking their heads over the fact that $400 million in unpaid fines are outstanding.

This should be a no-brainer of a challenge for the frenetic mayor to attack. In the year before Tory took office, police had inexplicably issued 150,000 fewer traffic tickets than the previous year. And when they do write those tickets, many offenders don’t bother paying. What to do?

Remember that when there is talk about a $86-million hole in the 2015 budget.

If Tory is concerned about the missing cash from parking and traffic revenues, he is not attacking it with the same fervour he has assumed as the Gridlock Buster.

The mayor’s efforts since December have been aimed at the scofflaws. Get them off the streets. Clear the major roads during rush hour. Tag and tow, if you must. Zero tolerance. Move traffic.

The initiative has shown some results. Since the first week of January when the get-tough policy kicked in, police have towed 962 vehicles and issued 5,806 tickets, Tory reports. On this initiative alone.

This shows Toronto police can spring into action, when motivated. What city councillors, the police services board and city bureaucrats have been wondering for more than a year is, why have the police fallen far short of expectations on the number of tickets issued.

Maybe Tory can bottle the formula for success here and apply it to all police traffic summonses. And he can do so — for the money.

On Monday Tory had another news conference to announce another initiative to clear the roads. His target was out-of-towners who flout parking laws, accumulate lots of tickets, and do so with impunity because the city doesn’t try to collect.

With the aid of the province, Toronto will now be able to tag, tow, and impound such vehicles until owners pay. When word gets out, the violators will start complying. Local drivers will, too. And the city will benefit two ways: cleared traffic; and more revenues, an estimated $2 million as a result, Tory said.

Finance staff also estimate that new laws that deny licence-plate renewals for unpaid parking and traffic offences, will give an immediate $12 million budget boost in 2015. After that, it will improve collections by $5 million a year, they say.

But there is so much more where that came from — if Tory put the squeeze on the police to account for what appears to be slacking off. Or is it wilful job action to protest a freeze in the police budget in recent years? Or some other unstated explanation sought for more than a year?

The parking enforcement unit is run by the police. A city report shows the number of traffic tickets issued has dropped to 259,152 last year from 693,456 in 2010. During the same time period the number issued by the OPP (and processed by the city) jumped to 18,818 from 13,015. And tickets issued by “other enforcement agencies” also jumped to 26,997 from 23,130 in 2010.

Buried in this year’s budget documents are some police explanations. Extreme cold in 2014; increased fines acting as a deterrent; better patrols, leading to better compliance; staff shortages, too.

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We’re talking $30 million in lost revenues. Plus, accounts receivable that mount at a rate of $24 million a year.

Maybe that explains why Tory isn’t sweating the so-called budget hole. He knows where he can tap to find the fix.

Royson James usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: rjames@thestar.ca

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