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Select Board Votes to Raise Fines for Parking Violations After Complaints of Abuse by Motorists

Drivers who violate Burlington’s parking rules will soon see a bigger impact to their wallets after the Select Board voted to increase the fines for most violations last week.

Town Administrator Paul Sagarino and Burlington Police Sergeant Gerry McDonough outlined the proposed increases, which are meant to bring the town more in line with area communities and to prevent people from using some spaces as cheap parking when commenting into Boston on the MBTA.

“Typically when we set fees or fines we like to be somewhere in the middle – not the highest or the lowest,” Sagarino said. “I do believe our fines have fallen a little below market value to the point where they weren’t much of a deterrent to anybody who was going to get a ticket.”

Sgt. McDonough said the issue with the parking fines came up starting in 2019 when the Burlington Parks & Recreation Department complained that some drivers were parking near the basketball courts at Simonds Park and leaving their vehicles there beyond the four hour limit. He said after investigating they determined many of these motorists were leaving their cars there and taking the MBTA into Boston. Because the fine for parking over the allowed time was only $5, for many it was a cheaper option than parking elsewhere along the MBTA route or driving into Boston.

“I think what was happening is that some individuals were doing a cost-benefit analysis and realized they could pay a $5 ticket everyday and take the MBTA into Boston and only pay $25 a week for parking,” McDonough explained.

He said the department attempted to fix the situation by reasoning with residents engaged in the practice.

“We tried to deal with it by having a conversation with some repeat offenders who live in town to no avail,” he said. “They just realized the dollar amount at the end of the week was worth it. So as a result we needed something to fall back on when we can’t solve the problem just through a conversation that will have these folks reevaluate the cost-benefit analysis.”

During the meeting, Sagarino and McDonough said they were recommending the fines for parking beyond the time limit be raised from $5 to $25 for a first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense.

“This may make it in people’s best interest to find another place to park.” McDonough said. “In the interest of members of the community that need to utilize those parking spaces for all the Recreation programs that are there.”

Members of the board said they were in favor of the change.

“These seems like modest increases,” Select Board Member Mike Runyan said. “I don’t really have an issues with this.”

“They need to be updated,” Member Jim Tigges added. “As Mike said these are not a big jump, they are quite modest, and I have no problem with them.”

Board Chair Nick Priest said he is willing to go further if these increases don’t have the intended impact.

“I’m glad we’re raising them and hopefully that will be a deterrent but maybe in a year’s time we can see how it’s working,” he said. “To see if it’s a strong enough deterrent and if not perhaps we raise it again because I personally am not afraid to hit a little harder when it comes to reminding folks that what they’re doing is wrong.”

Finally, the increase to the fine levels included other types of parking violations with most such citations, including parking within a prohibited or restricted area, parking on a sidewalk or crosswalk and parking in the wrong direct, among others, being raised from $10 to $25. Violating the town’s winter parking ban will now have an initial fine of $25 rather than $10 with $50 tickets being issued for each subsequent offense.