Toowoomba council delays new parking fine costs amid fierce debate over suburban patrolling, revenue raising

A mooted plan to hike up parking fines across Toowoomba has sparked a fierce council debate, with one councillor making a $10m claim to deny the organisation was revenue-raising.

 

Toowoomba Regional Council has postponed plans to ramp up the cost of parking fines across the city after a heated debate featuring some enterprising claims from elected officials.

The majority of councillors voted at this month’s committee meetings against amendments to the parking local law that would’ve seen the value of infringement notices brought closer to those imposed by other councils.

Under the planned changes, failing to pay for a paid parking spot would increase from $61 to $100, while overstaying in a time-limited space would rise to the same price from $77.

Parking in a loading zone could nearly double from $77 to $123, while infringements for no-stopping zones would remain at $123.

Illegally parking in a disabled spot would go from $309 to $464, in the biggest increase.

The changes were received positively from residents, with the two submissions received during the feedback period supporting the new approach.

Toowoomba CBD parking in Ruthven St. Picture: Kevin Farmer

But opposition to what was described by proponents as a routine change was led by councillor Gary Gardner, who took exception to the increases applying to suburban areas.

Mr Gardner also alleged parking officers had been spotted doing “proactive patrolling” on weekends in suburban streets and around sporting fields like at Kearneys Spring.

“Don’t you think that’s our responsibility because we don’t have enough parks (near suburban sporting fields),” he said.

“I don’t think mothers at sports grounds parking on the grass are trying to get out of paying a parking fine — they don’t have many options out there.

“I’d say it’s more than reactive, because I’ve had vehicles fined there on the roads that are on council land — I think sometimes they’re out there fining everyone they can.”

This was disputed by environmental and regulatory services manager Rohan O’Driscoll, who said parking officers would only be in suburban areas if complaints had been made.

Both councillors Tim McMahon and Trevor Manteufel cited recent technical issues with the council’s parking app as reasons to delay the vote, with the latter arguing the organisation was putting “the cart before the horse”.

During debate, councillor James O’Shea urged his colleagues to not over-complicate the issue, saying the discretionary enforcement of parking across Toowoomba would be addressed at an upcoming information session.

He slammed suggestions the council was trying to revenue raise with the fine changes, even suggesting he could nearly quintuple infringement earnings if the council really wanted to invest in the practice.

Candidate Councillor James O'Shea speaking at Toowoomba Decides Toowoomba Regional Council candidate forum at Toowoomba Turf Club, Thursday, March 7, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“If council wanted to revenue-raise around parking, we could do it,” Mr O’Shea said.

“That $1.2m (earnt in 2023-24), I could turn into $10m – we’d just need a lot more officers and we’d walk around and fine people all day every day.

“In my first term there was a particular area of the city where contractors were parking not only in spots but also loading zones and their reason was ‘$60 a day (as a fine) is cheap parking and we don’t get caught every day’ — it was good business sense for them.

“We need to put these rules in place to get an equitable outcome and this is a chance for us to do so.

“The other questions around the app, two wheels-up (enforcement), which areas should or shouldn’t be fined — all that has to come as the next phase with that info session.”

Bill Cahill and mayor Geoff McDonald were the only councillors to vote with Mr O’Shea, with opposition coming from Mr Gardner, Mr Manteufel, Mr McMahon, Kerry Shine and deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff.

The matter was deferred until after the review of the carpark strategy and workshop, as part of a motion moved by Mr McDonald.

Mr O’Shea was the only dissenting vote.

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.