University to raise parking ticket fees on some city streets
The university will raise its meter violation ticket fees on some streets near campus in August to match the city's rates.
When they return to Central Michigan University in the fall, students will face higher parking ticket fees on streets adjacent to campus.
Enforced by the university, parking meters on Franklin, University, Main, Bellows and Washington streets, as well as parking by the former site of the Student Book Exchange, will increase ticket fees to match the city's rates.
At CMU, fees for empty meters are issued at a $10 fine with a $10 late fee. The Mount Pleasant rate is $15 for an empty meter with a late fee of $30. In August, fees on the predominantly student-populated streets will increase to the city's fees.
Mount Pleasant Building Official Brian Kench said the idea is to get people to park elsewhere, thus relieving street congestion in those areas.
"If you want to park near campus, you're going to pay," he said at a June 8 City Commission meeting. "A couple blocks away, it's free."
CMU enforces those parking meters for the city as a result of a 2014 agreement during a neighborhood parking analysis which went into effect last August. The university is responsible for ticketing in those areas, collecting unpaid citations, processing payments and participating in all issues that may require a court hearing.
In exchange, the city provides maintenance, repairs and replacement of the meters. CMU collects 70 percent of all revenue taken from parking enforcement activity.
The increase in ticket fees comes from several factors. According to a neighborhood parking analysis study, the city lost about $29,000 in revenue after its agreement with CMU. This was because the university was not able to make adjustments to their program to increase fees for meter violations during the initial phase of the analysis. There was also a slight decrease in the number of parking tickets issued and an increase in the number of parking passes bought by students.
Mount Pleasant Finance Director and Treasurer Mary Ann Kornexl said the agreement benefits both the university and Mount Pleasant.
"The university is able to more consistently monitor those meters," she said. "More consistent enforcement leads to less parking tickets."
Kornexl added that with the university employing students through Parking Enforcement, the city's code enforcement officer can spend more time on enforcing codes.
