Jul 3, 2008 9:20 am US/Eastern
Baltimore County Could Raise Parking Fines
TOWSON, Md. (AP) ―
It could become a lot more expensive to violate parking laws in Baltimore County.
County Executive Jim Smith has proposed a bill that would, in some
cases, more than double the current fines.
Council Chairman Kevin Kamenetz planned to introduce the bill on Smith's behalf Monday.
The proposal includes increasing fines for expired meters from $16 to $20, increasing fines for parking in a fire lane from $43 to $100 and increasing fines for illegal use of a handicapped parking space from $75 to $150.
The adjustments would be the first in 15 years.
They could net nearly $745,000 each year, according to county finance director Keith Dorsey.
If the bill passes, the new rates would take effect Aug. 17.
But business owners called the proposed increase in parking fines a double-edged sword.
"You want to flip that car so you have more customers coming in, but at the same time, if your customers are getting fines outside, they may not patronize your business anymore," Keith Scott, president of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce, said.
Under the proposal, fines for parking in a no-parking zone or stopping in a no-stopping zone would double to $50; parking in the wrong direction would increase from $21 to $25.
All other violations would increase from $32 to $50.
The new rates would still be much less than in the city of Baltimore -- where handicapped space violations carry a $200 fine and meter violations are $23.
Most Howard County fines are $33, but illegally parking in a handicapped space costs $350.
In other parking news, Baltimore County officials also plan to replace parking meters with kiosks in the Towson area, beginning with a pilot program along Allegheny Avenue.
Drivers will buy a ticket from a machine, which can service more than 100 parking spaces, and display it on their dashboard.
Towson merchants are happy about the program, said Greater Towson Committee director Cynthia Bledsoe.
"We've kind of taken the motto that we want to make our sidewalks sexy again," Bledsoe said. "It gets the beautiful people off the street by not clogging the sidewalks with meters."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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