City parking fines to rise

Parking fines will be increasing in price around Bloomington to help pay for more parking.\nLast Wednesday, the Bloomington city council decided to raise the price of common parking tickets, a decision that will become official this Wednesday.\n"We decided to raise the ticket prices and next Wednesday, we will officially sanction it at our council meeting," councilman Anthony Pizzo said.\nParking tickets will increase from $12 to $15 if they are paid on time. The fee for paying a ticket more than seven days after being issued will increase from $17 to $30.\nThe tickets cover many parking violations, including parking longer than the allotted time and failing to park within specifically designated areas. Parking enforcement officers are on the beat daily and most of the parking issues are downtown and affect people parking for work. \nThe changes were implemented to help raise cash for the city.\n"Basically, Deputy Mayor (James) McNamara came to us and asked us to increase the ticket prices because Bloomington needs to increase its revenue," councilman Timothy Mayer said.\nSome Bloomington residents said they aren't that upset about the change.\n"I don't think the increase from $12 to $15 will matter to anyone, but the other increase is pretty significant," Bloomington resident Ned Smith said.\nPart of the money raised from the increase will go toward the costs of improving parking in Bloomington, an issue some residents said they think needs to be resolved.\n"The parking in this town sucks," Smith said. "It's totally inadequate"