Charles Paul understands as well as anybody how students feel about Ball State University Parking Services.
It's his job to know. The 2003 Ball State graduate supervises parking enforcement on campus.
"When I was here, I was the same way," Paul said. "I hated Parking Services. A lot of people ... probably don't want to hear it, but we put the parking rules in place to benefit them, not to penalize them."
Freshman telecommunications major Paul Weller said he received his first parking ticket Monday. He said the ticket made him mad because the parking system causes a hassle.
Paul said he doesn't think anybody understands how important Parking Services is to campus. He said if he told his employees to "pack it up for a week, the next week would be the biggest mess."
Weller said despite his anger, he thought parking services was fair.
"I wouldn't complain much," he said. "It's like other colleges. It's helpful that they give you the oops voucher."
Director of Public Safety Gene Burton said campus needs parking enforcement because parking is a limited resource. He said Parking Services' job is to maximize that resource to benefit everybody.
Parking Services is an auxiliary of the university, Burton said, meaning it's a self-supporting entity that doesn't receive tuition or state money. It makes all its money through fees, fines, and investments.
According to a Ball State budget document received through a public records request, parking services made more than $2.2 million in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Of that, more than $1.3 million came from sales of parking permits. More than $400,000 came from parking tickets and fines and another $400,000 plus came from daily parking fees. About $10,500 came from investments and $5,390 from boot fees.
According to the document 32.8 percent of Parking Services' income went to its wages and benefits, 15.7 percent went toward supplies and equipment and 51.5 percent went to bond payments and construction and maintenance of parking lots and garages.
Director of University Budgets Randy Sollars said parking services issued bonds to help pay for building parking structures.
The 51.5 percent of the revenue is used to pay back bonds used for parking construction projects. It is also used for ongoing maintenance of parking facilities.
Sollars said some of the total revenue also is used to support services such as the Motorist Assist Program and the Charlie's Charter escort service.
Junior exercise science major Heather Peterson said she assumed the money went to the university.
"Another money-making scheme," she said. "I think it doesn't need to be that expensive. $75 is way too much for one ticket."
Peterson said Parking Services is too intense and should be more lenient.
Paul said officers are confronted an average of three to four times a day, which is something they train for. Officers often try to write tickets before people start arguments. When someone approaches their car while it is being ticketed, parking officers are supposed to calmly explain the reason for the ticket and finish writing.
"Every now and then you'll get a person who thinks they'll make a difference by fighting," Paul said.
If the argument gets out of hand parking enforcement officers are supposed to radio the police dispatcher. Paul said this has only happened a handful of times in the year-and-a-half that he has worked there.
Students who disagree with parking tickets can fill out an appeal, which is sent to the University Traffic Appeals Subcommittee.
Six voting members and one non-voting member are on the committee. According to university policy, the committee is supposed to have 10 voting members.
Ebony Strong is a student member of the committee. She said serving on the committee has given her a "newfound respect" for Parking Services.
Parking Services office manager Nancy Wray serves as the non-voting member. She brings the appeals to the meeting and reads them to the committee. She generally does not participate in the discussion, except to answer questions. Wray occasionally makes her own decisions about appeals without bringing them to the committee, she said. When cases are obvious she will make the decision and when appeals are ineligible she will deny them, she said.
Laura Helms, chairwoman of the Appeals subcommittee, leads discussions. Helms said the committee does not evaluate parking policy. The committee's job is to determine whether parking policy was followed, regardless of its opinion of the policy. She said the committee will sometimes consider extenuating circumstances.
The Parking subcommittee in University Senate is responsible for evaluating parking policy and recommending changes.
Appeals meetings are held every two weeks. According to the minutes of the March 26 appeals committee meeting, 35 appeals were heard. Wray said that was more than average because the meeting covered three weeks because of Spring Break. The next meeting is today.
Paul has a sense of humor about students' attitudes toward parking services. He said he wished he had a dollar for every time he has been called a "parking Nazi."
"I'm no different than anyone else," Paul said. "I'm just doing my job."
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