Brickbat: Back End Costs

According to a report by local news outlet Crosstown LA, the city of Los Angeles lost about $66 million in parking enforcement in the last fiscal year. The city handed out 2 million parking tickets and collected $110 million in fines in the fiscal year ending in June 2024, while it spent $88 million on direct parking enforcement expenses such as salaries and equipment. But pensions and other expenses brought the total cost of parking enforcement to more than $176 million.

Comments

[Don't look at me! (No longer muted!)]

Only Los Angeles could lose money at a business that has no material costs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Look, do you want a jobs program or not.

[Vernon Depner]

Obviously the solution is more trains.

[AT]

expenses such as salaries and equipment. But pensions and other expenses

I spotted the problem.

[SQRLSY]

Tariffs will fix this for us all, for once and for all time!

[Chumby]

How the fuck does annual parking enforcement activities cost $176M per year?!?! Do a couple of Jeffs work there and meals is part of the compensation?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

What great saints, making sure they aren't earning any evil profits, like greedy private industry.

[Will Nonya]

Clearly the answer here is that they need to modernize that expensive equipment and staff uo their administrative aervices to ensure they run more efficiently. Ahouldnt take more than another hundred million.

[Don't look at me! (No longer muted!)]

More money needed for training!

[Longtobefree]

They are now soliciting bids for a million dollar study to determine the best formation of a committee to prepare a feasibility study of the best way to evaluate proposals for a commission to prepare a plan to reduce the losses on parking enforcement.
(The suggestion to eliminate parking enforcement will not be within the scope of the study)

Bids must be submitted no later than October 23rd, 2058.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"Will we read next that government control of prices has created a shortage of sand in the Sahara?"

[Rossami]

How is this a brickbat? Policing is not supposed to be a for-profit exercise. That includes even low-level policing like parking enforcement.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Agreed. Government ain't a for profit business. The real question is whether government should be doing this. And if so, are they doing it correctly and is it worth the expense?

[Jack Nunn]

Revenue generation is the entire point of parking enforcement. There is no reason to keep it if it costs more money than it brings in.

[Think It Through]

Rossami, yeah the article left out the benefit of PARKING ENFORCEMENT. Without which LA's parking/traffic situation could be in the status of a third-world anything goes situation. Is remediating that, worth the $66 million outlay? In the aggregate I would guess people would probably say, yes.

[MollyGodiva]

Well ya, so what? Profit should never be the goal of law enforcement.

[Don't look at me! (No longer muted!)]

Why bother paying taxes then?

[Longtobefree]

This will be addressed soon by eliminating all private transportation.

[Vernon Depner]

You'll have to scan your transport permit in the robotaxi to be permitted to leave your 15 minute neighborhood.