Memorandum
City of Lawrence
City Attorney’s Office
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TO: |
Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager |
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CC: |
Toni Wheeler, City Attorney Scott Miller, Municipal Court Judge Vicki Stanwix, Municipal Court Administrator |
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FROM: |
Maria Kaminska Garcia, Assistant City Attorney Ashley Lonnberg, Senior Accountant Kevyn Gero, Management Assistant |
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DATE: |
January 21, 2016 |
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RE: |
Canned Goods |
On December 1, 2015 the City Commission directed staff to explore the possibility of introducing a year-round program in Lawrence allowing alternative forms of payment—specifically, donation of canned goods—for persons cited with City parking violations. This would be an option for payment of fines and fees and not a requirement. The idea for implementing such a program in Lawrence is an interesting one, and has been considered from all angles.
Staff—including members of the City Manager’s Office, Finance Department, and City Attorney’s Office—have conducted significant research on the financial and operational impact such a program would have in Lawrence, and provide their findings and recommendations below.
Peer City Research
The concept for canned goods in lieu of parking fines is not a new idea, though extending it past the holiday season is. One of the first entities to implement such a program was the Lexington Parking Authority in Lexington, Kentucky. Its program is called “Food for Fines,” and allows people with parking citations to receive $15 off any parking citation in exchange for 10 cans of donated food. A person with multiple citations can bring in 10 cans per citation to receive the discount. The City of Lexington reported that its 2014 program received 6,200 cans of food as payment for more than 600 meter citations. Any non-perishable food items are permitted but the Parking Authority offers a suggested list of donations for those items most in demand.
The canned goods are donated to local food pantries, which provide boxes for storage. The food pantries pick up the canned goods from the Parking Authority twice a week. Eight cities participating in a similar food-related program were surveyed. The length of those programs ranged from a week to two months, with all occurring around the winter holidays. For more detail on the survey, please see Attachment A.
Financial Impact
To estimate the percent of revenue the program is expected to represent, staff looked at similar programs. “Food for Fines” is a popular program also hosted by public libraries for overdue library fines. In a 2001 study by a Library Marketing firm, revenue from canned foods represented roughly 3-6% of total revenue from fines (3% in first year and 6% in second year). In the study there were no examples of libraries using the program for longer than two weeks.
The chart below shows 2014 actual revenue from overtime parking citations, both the $3.00 fine and $15.00 ($3.00 fine plus $12.00 late fee). In addition, the estimated revenue paid with canned food in one month, three month, six month, and annually is also shown.
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If both overtime parking citations ($3.00 and $15.00) are eligible for canned food donations and the participation rate in the program is at least 6%, the City can expect to receive $30,000 less in annual overtime parking revenue. All parking meter revenue, including overtime parking, is managed in the Parking Fund. The current Parking Fund summary and the Parking fund summary with the estimated $30,000 revenue loss are attached. The summaries do not account for additional operational expenditures due to accepting canned food, like additional storage or shelving space or transportation/gasoline needed for transporting canned goods to charities. This analysis is also limited to meter parking and not other, more expensive parking citations in Lawrence. Citations range from $3 per meter violation up to $100 for unauthorized parking in a handicap stall.
It is important to note that the parking fund is an Enterprise Fund. The City’s Budget Policies outline the intent of these funds as:
“Enterprise Funds - to account for operations that are financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises where the stated intent is that the costs (expenses, including depreciation) of providing goods or services to the general public on a continuing basis be financed or recovered primarily through user charges or where periodic determination of revenues earned, expenses incurred, and/or net income is deemed appropriate for capital maintenance, public policy, management control, accountability, or other purposes.”
Additional Caution
Staff has not identified another city that uses a “Food for Fines” program year-round, so it is difficult to predict additional challenges that may appear. However, this type of program may be successful in other cities because it is short term and occurs during a time when people generally feel charitable. There may not be consistent participation if the program extends past the holidays, which may be why other cities limit the time period.[1] Moreover, such a program may add an additional strain on Municipal Court resources, ranging from space to keep cans in an already small area with limited storage options, to significant staff time needed for collecting and counting cans, and ensuring that they are properly recorded towards outstanding parking fines.
Additionally, selecting which charities benefit from the canned food donations may become a delicate and complex issue, as some charities may not receive any canned goods and question the selection process. The city of Albany, New York had one central food bank repository that divvied out cans to other smaller food banks. And Birmingham, Alabama allowed all food banks to participate so that the entire city could be served. One alternative solution may be to, instead of collecting canned goods, provide a charitable donation of money to a selected charity or charities, keeping in mind the same issue of charity selection and participation. Alternatively, it may be possible to allow anyone having a parking citation to directly donate canned goods to a charity of their choice, then show the receipt to Municipal Court for elimination of their fine. There is an increased opportunity for fraud in this instance, however, as someone could potentially forge a receipt or otherwise obtain a receipt without donating food.
Local Ordinance
The City Commission would need to determine to which parking citations the ordinance would apply: only $3 meter citations, meter plus a select few other citations, or all parking citations, in addition to determining the length of the program (week, month, year). An ordinance implementing a “Food for Fines”-like program could declare that each can is worth $1.00 towards the parking fines, and Municipal Court will be tasked with establishing a method of accepting and documenting donated canned foods. Only undamaged, unopened, and unexpired canned goods for human consumption would be accepted in lieu of money. The City Commission may also narrow the types of food accepted based upon what is needed at the charities. That ordinance will apply to any outstanding balance, whether accumulated before the canned food event or during. The City Commission would determine to whom the canned goods would be donated.
Options
In addition to any ideas that may be suggested by the Commission, staff has identified the following options for implementing a similar “Food for Fines” program in Lawrence:
(1) Implement a pilot program for a short-period of time and have municipal court collect canned goods on a temporary basis until the next Commission review.
(2) Implement the program as stated under option (1) except that instead of revisiting the program, it would be for a set period of (2 weeks-1 month) and would expire without Commission review.
(3) Allow canned food donations for parking fines year-round, keep initial parking fines at $3.00 per fine and reduce expenditures from the Parking Fund by decreasing services funded by the Parking fund. The estimated annual loss of $30,000 in revenue would be equivalent to .03 mills. Currently the parking control manager is funded by the general fund and during the 2016 budget process, downtown beautification expenditures were moved to the guest tax fund due to the decreasing fund balance.
(4) Allow canned food donations for parking fines year round and increase parking fines. If initial parking fines were increased from $3.00 to $5.00 the revenue increase is estimated at $178,000, which could cover both the revenue loss and additional operational expenditures.
Action
Receive staff memo regarding an ordinance allowing for the donation of canned goods in lieu of payment for certain parking citations in Municipal Court, and provide direction to staff, if appropriate.