L.A. Democrats Lose Millions Writing Traffic Tickets

“…In yet another example of poor leftist fiscal management, Crosstown reports that the city of Los Angeles now spends more money on traffic and parking enforcement than it collects from traffic fines. That’s right, our leftist leaders continue to lose money writing traffic tickets in one of the world’s most car-crazy cities.

“Over the past five years, fines from parking tickets have brought in over $617 million to the city of Los Angeles,” said Crosstown. “But over that same time, the department in charge of writing those tickets ran up costs of more than $809 million in salaries, equipment and other expenses.” In other words, that means parking and traffic enforcement cost the city of L.A. $192 million more than was generated in revenue from traffic tickets.

And no, the ticket revenue shortfall did not begin with the COVID-19 pandemic. It actually began way back in 2017 and “became particularly outsized in the last two fiscal years,” notes Crosstown. “In those 24 months, the parking and traffic enforcement division spent almost $121 million more than it took in through citations.” In the heart of the pandemic there were fewer people living and working in the city itself, so that meant fewer “expired meters or blocked fire hydrants,” but that brief time doesn’t explain the continued shortfall. And officers had the “added duties of monitoring COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites,” but other factors must also have contributed to the decreasing ticket revenue…”