Bloomington parking ticket notebook: 2023 set record for citations, same for appeals

In the first week of February, Bloomington’s elected city clerk, Nicole Bolden, stood at the mic in city council chambers, to give the council an update—which included some numbers on parking ticket appeals.

The roughly 8,000 appeals that were made in 2023 were the most since she started working in the clerk’s office in 2009, Bolden told the council. The exact number of parking ticket appeals in 2023 was 7,718.

Bolden was hired in 2009 to handle parking ticket appeals. She was first elected Bloomington city clerk in 2015. Bolden is at the start of her third 4-year term.

It made sense for the city clerk to give the update, because under Bloomington city code, parking ticket appeals are made to the city clerk.

The record number of appeals stems in part from a record number of citations, based on records provided by Bolden, which go back to 2011.

In 2023, parking enforcement officers issued 56,671 citations, which was 6,000 more than the next highest year, which was in 2014, with 50,031 citations.

At least part of the reason for the increased frequency of citations is the fact that as of the end of 2022, the parking services division was finally fully staffed.

The 7,718 appeals of 50,031 citations amount to 13.6 percent of tickets. In the four years before that (2019 through 2022), 13.2 percent of tickets were appealed, which means 2023 squares up roughly with the last half decade, measured by percentage of tickets appealed.

But the roughly 13.5-percent appeal rate for the last five years is about 4 points higher than the 8 years before that. From 2011 through 2018, 9.5 percent of tickets were appealed.

The increase in the appeal rate could be analyzed as an effect of the increase in the fine schedule, which was effective starting Jan. 1, 2019. In Bloomington an expired meter fine is currently $30. If it’s not paid within 14 days, the fine doubles to $60. That fine schedule went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, when Bloomington’s city council authorized an increase from the previous lower structure of $20, which doubled to $40, if not paid within 14 days.

When a Bloomington parking ticket is appealed, the historical success rate is better than half. From 2011 through 2023, the ticket has been dismissed in about 60 percent of appeals. In 2023, the ticket was dismissed in about 67 percent of the appeals.

[tab-delimited file with data compiled by The B Square from the clerk’s records]