Stephen Parker at Around Fort Wayne was at the City Council meeting last night and got a copy of a report detailing the expenses and revenues related to parking fees and fines.

For a while now I have wondered if our parking scheme was operating in the red or black. It appears as though parking generates a good chunk of change every year.

“Violations Bureau Revenue and Expenditures Report for 2004 Thru 2008″

(click for PDF version)

The problem with the money coming in is that it’s not being leveraged – it simply goes back into the General Fund.

For the past four years parking has returned anywhere from a little over $100,000 to almost $200,000.

Instead of simply funneling this money back into the General Fund, why not reinvest it back into the areas that are affected, funding infrastructure improvements and repairs to the streets and sidewalks of downtown Fort Wayne and surrounding areas?

Instead of having the parking system simply serve as a regulator of supply and demand, why not turn it into an investment vehicle so that when people park downtown they become investors in the areas that they are utilizing?

Then again, if all the money did was pay for snow removal on downtown sidewalks, it would be money well spent.