No one can remember the last time the Village of Brookfield raised what it charges for parking and compliance tickets, but that’s about to change.
Police Chief Steven Stelter at the village board’s Committee of the Whole meeting on April 14 outlined changes in the department’s ticketing policy, which were the result of interviews with police officers and a survey of what neighboring towns charge for tickets.
“People weren’t taking our tickets seriously,” said Stelter. “I felt the fines were really minimal. Our records clerk who has been here 15 years said the fines have never changed since she’s been here.”
Under the new penalty structure, which village trustees will vote to accept on April 28, parking tickets will cost offenders $35 instead of the $20 that is charged now.
“We don’t do these things to soak money from people,” Stelter said. “We’re hoping it gets people to abide by the parking laws.”
In addition to the bump in the initial penalty, Stelter has also proposed raising the additional late fee from $30 to $50, with the hope that those who are ticketed will pay them in a timely fashion.
“When people see the fine and the late fees, hopefully we’ll get these paid promptly,” Stelter said.
Illegal parking is an especially thorny issue in Brookfield, where many streets are very narrow. On days where two inches or more of snow has fallen, car owners are expected to move their vehicles so plows can get through.
Officers have told Stelter that some residents would rather eat the cost of the ticket than move their cars. Stelter said that the more expensive tickets may motivate those car owners to comply with parking regulations.
What Stelter would prefer long-term is that Brookfield work to change its parking regulations to allow parking on only one side of the street.
“We would love that,” Stelter said. “We barely have enough room for one car much less a village truck or garbage truck.”
There are no plans afoot to make such a change at this time.
Compliance tickets, which are written for such things as burned out tail lights, are going up to $20, double the current penalty. The late fee for those citations is also doubling, from $20 to $40.
Brookfield police are also drawing a line in the sand about responding to false burglar alarms at buildings in the village. After the third false alarm response within a six-month period, Brookfield police will charge $100 for responding. After the fifth false alarm that fee will go up to $200 per response.
“Police do have a degree of tolerance for false alarms … but we have to recoup some of these costs,” said Village President Michael Garvey.
Finally, police are raising the fee for what they charge private organizations that require a police presence at events. The department charges $46 an hour for the presence of a police officer. That will go up to $60 an hour under the new fee schedule.
Stelter said that he did not estimate how much more in revenue the police department is expected to collect with the changes. The goal is compliance, he said, not necessarily more money.
“To try to guesstimate is something I wouldn’t want to attempt to do,” said Stelter.
Trustees at the Committee of the Whole meeting appeared agreeable to the changes in the penalties.
“This is just one of those things that doesn’t keep up with inflation,” said Trustee C.P. Hall. “This seems to be reasonable.”