MSU’s support of a bill that could extend university control over parking, traffic and pedestrian ordinances and fines feels like the university raising funds through ticketing. The university is strapped for cash and a good way to raise funds would be through increasing fines.
However, probably owing to the general animosity of students toward a 2.5 percent increase in tuition, university officials don’t want to couch the increased fines in terms that make it seem like they’re finding a way to squeeze blood from a stone. Steve Webster, MSU’s vice president for governmental affairs, said changing the fees from “those very low levels” to levels similar to off-campus infractions is enough incentive for people to park legally. He denied that MSU’s lobbying in support of the legislation is about increased revenues from citations.
“Do we support it? Sure we do,” Webster said. “(MSU’s Board of Trustees) would have the ability to set our ordinances on campus and our own fines for violating those — but not to exceed those (set) fines.”
About that: The fines for meter parking might not be all that different. According the MSU Board of Trustees’ webpage on ordinances, the fine is $15 and it can be reduced to $10 if paid within 24 hours. The city of East Lansing’s Ordinance No. 1237 lists the fine as $20, but it too can be reduced to $10 if paid by the end of the next business day.
The areas students should look out for are, well, pretty much every other fine. Right now, MSU has fines of $15 for a meter violation, $25 for a parking space or lot violation and $100 for parking in a handicap space. Fines in East Lansing, on the other hand, cost $20 to $30 more for some of the same violations. For example, parking more than a foot from the curb on campus is $15. In the city it is $35.
On top of all that, the Lansing State Journal reported this May that MSU issued more than 122,000 parking tickets and collected more than $2.5 million in 2009. That’s an average of about $21 per ticket. Increasing that average by $10 would bring in a little more than $1 million in extra revenue. That’s a pretty compelling argument for increasing fines, more so than offering incentives for people to park legally.
It is hard to work up a great deal of sympathy for an institution that increases tuition and then finds another way to extract some extra money. If the university is going to do that, especially during a time when construction will take up available parking spaces, it should take the time to help out those who park on campus.
Put signs in visible places so it’s clear whether seemingly unmarked spots are actually reserved. Include a lower rate for fines paid within a few hours of issuance. If a student is ticketed because he or she was in class, MSU could make a student-friendly gesture by giving us a chance to pay $7 if we do so within two hours. It might not seem like much, but, as MSU has shown, every dollar counts.
But there is something even simpler, something that says MSU understands some people have to park on campus to attend classes: Give people more than 12 minutes for each quarter we put in the meter. It’s not about the money … right?
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