Despite ongoing budget concerns across UF, the amount of parking citations issued on campus has decreased.
Scott Fox, director of Transportation and Parking Services, describes the department as more like a business than a department of the university, because it creates its own revenue and does not receive revenue from the state, university or student tuition.
Its revenue depends on decal sales, visitor parking, fines, special events, meter parking and other sources.
This past year the net decrease of the department's revenue was estimated at $454,452. The office has cut some of it expenses by deferring some "non-essential" projects, such as bus shelter construction.
They have also decreased staff, eliminating four employees by not filling open positions.
Fox stated they had not fired any personnel.
"You don't want to fire people, even in a tough budget climate," he said.
Fox said the expenses for the office have also increased. "Imagine the electric bill we pay to light 13 garages 24/7," he said.
Also, the office is expected to spend $60,000 to add more energy-efficient lighting.
Fox also said the office would be spending more than $1 million to maintain the structural integrity of said 13 garages, protecting the $50 million dollar asset.
The office will increase decal prices by 6 percent in the coming year, an increase that would allow the office to have a budget cushion of about $45,877, just 0.39 percent of the department's budget.
The 2009 revenue from fines was about $1.7 million. The office expected the revenue to increase to $1.95 million, but instead it fell to $1.4 million.
"We are writing fewer tickets than ever before," Fox said.
He said a couple of years ago the office would write about 100,000 tickets. This past year it wrote about 79,000 tickets, of which 5,000 were dismissed after being appealed.
More than 18,000 tickets were appealed in the last year, a figure that does not include many students who didn't bother with the appeals process.
He explained that when an appeal is made, the Student Traffic Court, a group of unpaid student volunteers, reviews it.
He also spoke about the second level of the appeal process, where one can appeal his or her ticket to a council of faculty members to try to protest their denied appeal.
"Sometimes we make a mistake," Fox said.
For many violations, the office takes photos to have evidence to the reason of the citation.
The office also takes photos when cars are towed. Fox said the photos help provide accuracy during the appeals process.
More than 6 percent of parking citations are dismissed.
"I think you get a pretty fair judgment," Fox said.
