City Expected To Collect Extra $20.7M
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Fine-collecting agencies are stepping up their efforts, according to the latest budget forecasts. The June financial plan predicts the city will take in $741.7 million in fines for the 2007 fiscal year that ended yesterday. The forecast shows a $20.7 million increase from the forecast in the executive budget in April. The actual revenue figures will be announced in the Comptroller’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report in October.
The increase is attributed to better collecting of outstanding fines, increased penalties, and more tickets being given out by some agencies, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, Raymond Orlando, said.
The police department is expected to collect $535.2 million in parking fines, up $9 million from the April forecast. A spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, deferred to Mr. Orlando, who said the increase was due, in part, to an increase in ticketing since the forecast. As of June 24, the number of parking tickets issued by traffic agents was 894,754, down more than 31,000 from last year, according to Compstat reports. Moving violation tickets were up 19,771, to 562,401.
The Environmental Collection Board is expected to collect $19.5 million in fines, up $3.5 million from the April forecast. The board adjudicates cases for several agencies, including the Department of Transportation, Department of Sanitation, and the Department of Environmental Protection, but outstanding fines are collected by the Department of Finance.
“We’re taking a results oriented approach and developing innovative solutions to resolve this debt,” a spokesman for the Department of Finance, Owen Stone, said.
Some agencies that use the board are now refusing to issue permits to companies that have outstanding debt, which is increasing the rate of payment, he said.
Red-light cameras are expected to rake in $24 million for the city, up $2 million from the April forecast. There are also multimillion-dollar increases in the forecasts for motor vehicle fines, late filing fees, and fines given out by the city’s administrative tribunals.
“They are adding quite a bit of revenue this year,” a deputy director of the Independent Budget Office, Preston Niblack, said.
