Los Angeles has a budget problem. Well, another budget problem.
According to a recent report from independent news organization Crosstown LA, the city is fighting a losing war over parking and parking enforcement.
Crosstown analyzed data provided by City Controller Kenneth Mejia, which showed that L.A. is spending tens of millions more on parking enforcement than it is receiving from parking tickets.
In the fiscal year that ended in June 2024, after giving out 2 million parking tickets, the city collected about $110 million in parking fines. Meanwhile, according to Mejia’s data, it was spending $88 million on parking enforcement expenses like salaries and equipment. But when the cost of pensions and other obligations and liabilities were added to the mix, that figure jumped to more than $176 million.
A $65 million shortfall. A $65 million shortfall when the city is experiencing a significant budgetary crisis that it needs to address.
The parking enforcement problem isn’t new. The city hasn’t made money by issuing parking tickets since 2016. But there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing problem with parking restrictions temporarily or permanently lifted in some places. Revenue in the fiscal year that ended in June 2021 was down 37% from the prior year.
Fewer people are also commuting and filling the city centers than pre-pandemic times, meaning less cars overstaying their welcome or parking where they shouldn’t.
And the existing budget crisis is likely to only make the problem worse, Crosstown says, citing an interview with Department of Transportation spokesman Colin Sweeney.
Staff cuts and open positions left vacant are another main culprit for the decrease in parking enforcement fines. The City eliminated more than 60 positions in the 2024-25 budget, Sweeney said. Dozens of traffic officers have also retired.
And since the COVID-19 pandemic, traffic officers have taken up different non-revenue-generating roles, initially helping with COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites, providing traffic control during events, and even helping with Mayor Karen Bass’s pet project Inside Safe, which brings the unhoused off the streets and into more appropriate temporary housing.
Sweeney says LADOT is advocating for more officers to be hired as part of the next city budget, and the department will hope its pitch will be heard before the budget is finalized April 21.
To read the full story, including the methodology used by Crosstown, click here.
