Allentown City Council to raise fines if Parking Authority plays along

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Parking fines could soon be on the rise in Allentown.

City Council last week unanimously approved a package of more than two dozen increases for parking violations.

But Allentown Parking Authority’s board would have to sign off on payment plans and a parking-meter study at its June 26 meeting for the higher fines to take effect next month.

That vote came after a committee-of-the-whole meeting that lasted more than 50 minutes — and a vote to hire former FBI special agent Scott Curtis for a long-awaited investigation.

City Councilman Santo Napoli, who also sits on the parking authority board, said an internal payment plan “will be one of [its] first orders of business.”

Implementing the payment plan would cost up to $50,000, but the authority can’t cover that cost while operating from a deficit, Napoli said.

“That’s one of the first things we want to work on,” he said.

Parking fines would not increase in July if the parking authority board does not pass both measures this month, Napoli confirmed.

‘Antiquated fine system’

Parking Authority Executive Director Jon Haney said he supports council’s two conditions and hopes his agency’s independent board will approve them.

“I'm all in favor of doing the meter study, [but] I have to be able to pay for it,” Haney said.

Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach voted for the parking-fine increases but voiced skepticism that the parking Authority will follow through.

“I do not yet have that faith and trust in the parking authority to do that [parking meter] study,” Gerlach told Haney.

“I hope I'm proven wrong. I hope a year from now — if this increase passes, and you get the money that you need — I hope you can come back and say, ‘I told you so.’”

Vicky Kistler, Allentown’s director of community and economic development, said Mayor Matt Tuerk and his administration are “in full support of the fine increase.”

Many people are happy to pay a ticket to “park for a whole day” because it’s cheaper than paying to park legally, she said. She called it an “antiquated fine system.”

Budget hole

The parking authority fell about $1.8 million short of its projected budget for 2023, which officials have attributed to a significant reduction in enforcement — and therefore citations — last year.

The parking authority was directed in fall 2022 to take over parking enforcement. The agency brought in “very consistent” revenues for several months, which officials used to create the 2023 budget, according to Ted Zeller, who chairs the agency’s board.

But council’s move to cut active patrol hours by almost half put a $1 million hole in the parking authority’s budget.

The authority lost a further $800,000 because of “unforeseen repairs” at the Spiral Deck and higher-than-expected interest payments for the Maple Street Garage.

The authority's board in March voted to raise rates in its parking decks and at surface lots and decks.

It’s also stepping up its enforcement of double-parking violations.

Haney and Zeller have said the ticket increases will bring the city’s parking-violation fines in line with regional rates. Many haven’t been raised for decades in Allentown.

Citations for almost all types of parking violations are cheaper in Allentown than in any comparable city in the region — Bethlehem, Easton, Reading, Lancaster and York.

Tickets are set at $15 for many first-time offenses, according to statistics provided by the parking authority.

The city’s $100 double-parking fine is the lone violation that costs more in Allentown than in most other cities in the region.

Haney on May 2 — his first day in the role — explained his agency’s dire need for new revenue.

The authority had a $3.2 million contingency fund in 2023, but that was down to about $600,000 last month, he said.

An earthquake that hit the Lehigh Valley in early April could have bankrupted the Allentown Parking Authority if it was stronger, Haney said.