photo by: Nick Krug

A parking ticket rests under a wiper blade on Massachusetts Street on Monday, March 7, 2011.

Drivers who fail to feed the parking meters in downtown Lawrence will soon see a larger fine on those yellow tickets on their windshields.

The Lawrence City Commission voted 4-1 Tuesday to raise the overtime parking meter fine from $3 to $5. It’s the first increase since 2009, when the charge was bumped from $2 to $3.

Lawrence Police Capt. Adam Heffley said the purpose of the increase was to have more people pay the meters and “move on” from a space once their time runs out.

“The goal of the exercise is not to go out of our way to punish people, but to create an environment downtown where people can come and go and have the opportunity to park there,” Heffley said. “The benefit of a higher turnover in parking is less people driving around in circles looking for parking stalls.”

Besides an increase in the initial fine, fines paid after 10 days will increase from $15 to $20. Habitual violators — those who have five or more parking violations within a 30-day period — are currently charged $50. That will increase to $75. The increase applies to violations for free downtown parking lots and garages.

Commissioners must pass the ordinance again at next week’s meeting. The item will be on the consent agenda, meaning it will be automatically approved unless a commissioner or member of the public pulls it off the consent agenda for further discussion. If the ordinance is passed, it will take effect later this month, although a specific date has not been set.

No member of the public spoke about the proposal during Tuesday’s meeting. One person submitted a letter in opposition.

Mayor Mike Amyx, owner of Amyx Barber Shop on Massachusetts Street, voted against the change, saying he didn’t want it to negatively affect shoppers visiting downtown.

“When we’re talking about raising the ticket by a third, I’m a little bit concerned about that,” Amyx said.

After the ordinance passed, Amyx asked city staff to better advertise when drivers need to pay the meters, saying, “If they don’t know the times… it’s a little unfair.”

“I’ve heard that same comment recently, and I don’t necessarily disagree with it,” Heffley said. “I want to be clear this is what we’re doing. I don’t want this seen as a sneaky way to do something. I’d like to be upfront with that and have new signage, additional signage, whatever that may be.”

Parking control officers monitor the metered spaces and downtown public lots from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The hours and the meter fees will remain the same under the changes. Nickels buy drivers 6 minutes, dimes buy 12 minutes and quarters buy 30 minutes.

In a review of other cities’ fines for parking violations, Heffley found Lawrence charged much less than others. Topeka and Boulder, Colo., charge $15 for parking meter violations, and the Manhattan City Commission recently approved an increase in fines from $5 to $15.

The $3 ticket “creates a situation where people are willing to take a gamble,” Heffley said.

“They’ll think, ‘I don’t want to feed the meter; I’ll take a chance on whether I get a citation,'” he said.

In 2015, parking control officers issued 102,141 tickets for meter violations. So far this year, officers have issued 52,197 tickets. Heffley said the numbers are “evidence of a lack of adherence” to the parking meters — something he’s hoping will be improved with the increase in fines.

“We need to try to achieve that perfect level of, ‘I don’t want to pay that so I’ll adhere to the meter program,’ or ‘I’ll move on,’ which frees parking,” Heffley said.

A benefit Heffley called “secondary” to the others was an expected increase in revenue to the city’s parking fund.

The extra dollars paid by violators could add up to an additional $261,280 annually with the increase, city documents show.

In 2015, fines from meter tickets, including those paid late and given to habitual violators, brought in about $630,000. The money from the city parking fund last year went to pay parking meter attendants, municipal court clerks, three police officers and a public works employee to do maintenance on the parking meters and garages. It also paid Parks and Recreation employees for downtown beautification projects.

“I’d like the system to work the best we can make it work,” Commissioner Stuart Boley said. “If this is going to take us there, I think we need to give it a try.”