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To help balance Los Angeles' massive budget for the next Fiscal Year, parking fines are to be increased $5 across the board. The move begins July and will raise an additional $6.6 million towards filling the $406 million gap in the budget, according to the Daily News. Originally, City Council looked into increasing the fines $10 to $15, raising up to $20 million extra, but had worries it would lead to voter anger and violence against parking enforcement officers.
And as backwards as it seems, the best idea coming out of this is to raise the fine one more dollar to $6 for a stolen vehicle fund. Councilman Tom LaBonge, who always is rooting for the little guy (except when it comes to bikes and holidays), says having a car stolen is hard enough.
"Imagine the trauma if you go out and find your car stolen," he told the paper. "And then, five days later, the police call and say it's been recovered. Then you're facing the $184 impound fee and whatever it costs for each day there. It doesn't seem fair. We shouldn't charge people after they've been through the trauma of having their car stolen."
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