Facing steadily increasing operating costs, the district’s police services department has proposed a parking fee increase, as well as other changes to the school’s parking policy.
If approved by the governing board, semester passes would increase from $35 to $40, while day passes would cost $3 instead of $2.
At the same time, students who are ticketed for parking illegally will find themselves paying $35, instead of the previous $30, because the state has raised the amount it collects per citation.
Though the proposed parking fee increase comes in the midst of tuition hikes and class cuts, Lt. Tom Sharp said it is essential to preserving services and parking-related maintenance
During a presentation at the Oct. 20 meeting of the Associated Students of DVC, Sharp said the proposal has been in the works since last February. Parking fees have not increased since Jan. 17, 2003.
“We’ve waited as long as we could, but we can’t wait any longer,” he said.
Although many students present at the meeting expressed the need for students to look out for each others’ safety, Sharp emphasized the necessary role of campus police.
“If you get together and see something, we don’t really want you to take action,” he said. “Call us.”
The proposal calls for the additional revenue to cover parking-related expenses, such as police aides, safety and maintenance.
Parking machines will be outfitted with credit card machines so students are not forced to pay with cash only.
The task of processing credit card purchases will be handled by a third party, Credentials Solutions, which will charge the district 49 cents per transaction to be covered by a portion of the increased parking fees.
In a separate interview Charles Gibson, the district’s police chief, said the new credit card option will benefit students, even though the convenience fee is high.
“We’ve been providing a service for all this time for little to no money,” Gibson said of the proposed parking fee hike. “It’s time. If you want to maintain or get better services, you have to pay for it.
“We’re talking $15 per year.”
In addition, semester parking passes would be available for purchase on-line and mailed to students, under the proposed changes.
But Christina Cannon, who represents students from Diablo Valley, Contra Costa and Los Medanos colleges on the district governing board, faulted the process for not having input from constituent groups and said the proposal’s language only indirectly guarantees parking fee revenues will go to police services.
“My conclusion is that people are building the emphasis on police aides, and that is not what it’s [necessarily] going to,” she said.
The generated revenue goes into a restricted parking fund that may be spent on anything parking-related, such as lighting, equipment and maintenance, Cannon said.
Cannon said faculty and staff should be required to pay a fee for on-campus parking. Currently, it is free for them.
“If everyone would share the fee increase at least it would be fair and equitable,” she said.
But Gibson said the process would be difficult and lengthy, since it would require negotiations for contract changes through the unions representing faculty and staff.
“Frankly, I wouldn’t mind charging them,” he said. “We will certainly take it under consideration.”