To:Corporate Services Committee

From:City Clerk - Audit Committee

Subject:Review of Parking Tag Operations

Recommendation:

The Audit Committee recommends to the Corporate Services Committee the adoption of the report (December 23, 1998) from the City Auditor.

Background:

The Audit Committee, at its meeting on March 1, 1999, had before it a report (December23,1998) from the City Auditor respecting Review of Parking Tag Operations, and recommending that:

(1)in preparing the 1998 financial statements, management should provide an additional allowance for doubtful accounts of $6.4 million relating to parking tag receivables. In addition, a projected final collection rate of 78 percent should be used for accrual purposes at 1998 year end;

(2)Parking Tag Operations (PTO) staff review its current arrangement with the Ministry of Transportation (TO) relating to the administration of plate denial and enter into a formal agreement with TO which outlines the administrative responsibilities of the respective parties regarding the collection of parking fines at plate denial;

(3)priority be given to the reconciliation of PTO records with TO records to ensure that all tags filed for plate denial are in fact awaiting collection at plate denial. This reconciliation should be done at least annually;

(4)PTO staff perform an analysis of the tags outstanding at plate denial, investigate the reasons for the delay of their collection and assess their current collectability. In addition, management should evaluate TO's collection procedures and take appropriate action to ensure that reliance can be placed on the Ministry's processes for the collection of outstanding fines at plate denial;

(5)the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and the City Solicitor report to the Corporate Services Committee on the changes required to the current provincial legislation and regulations, to enable the City to collect outstanding fines at any stage, as well as to use private collection agencies in this regard;

(6)PTO staff work with the Ministry to actively pursue collection of the old outstanding fines at plate denial, specifically those individuals or companies identified as owing more than $5,000;

(7)the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer meet with the appropriate senior Ministry officials to expedite the resolution of the issues relating to the plate denial process in order to improve the collection of outstanding fines at plate denial;

(8)in view of the loss of revenue from parking tags issued to out-of-province vehicles, management pursue with the Province of Ontario the extension of reciprocal agreements with other Canadian provinces and United States cities, to parking violations. Consideration should also be given to assigning the outstanding fines relating to out-of-province vehicles to a private collection agency;

(9)in consultation with the City Solicitor, management request an appropriate change in legislation to provide an alternative means of serving parking tags to drove-away vehicles, which could include mailing the notice of infraction;

(10)the Parking Enforcement Unit of the Toronto Police Services report to the Corporate Services Committee on the reasons for the increase in the number of spoiled tags and the action that will be taken to keep this number to a minimum;

(11)the current report from the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer relating to parking tags be modified to include additional management information such as the total number of tags written, spoiled, available for collection, withdrawn, status of outstanding fines, including those that are issued to out-of-province vehicles, as well as an analysis of any significant trends or problem areas; and that this report be submitted to the Corporate Services Committee on a quarterly basis, rather than monthly;

(12)PTO management establish key indicators to monitor the activity with respect to the issuance and processing of parking tags. This should include monitoring the number of spoiled tags, withdrawn tags, illegible tags, etc. In this regard, management should designate an individual the responsibility for this function as well as for the analysis of trends and the provision of relevant reports to management;

(13)PTO management utilize other available tools and resources within the City to generate customized reports to facilitate the review and monitoring of activity within PTO and discontinue the need to manually re-input data;

(14)the monthly reconciliation of the Parking Tag Management System (PTMS) to the general ledger be reviewed and approved by the Manager of PTO;

(15)PTO management make arrangements for the First Appearance Facilities to deposit all monies directly to the nearest financial institution, having a banking arrangement with the City;

(16)a transaction report showing the details of all tags withdrawn be provided to all First Appearance Facilities locations. To help ensure compliance with the guidelines, the respective supervisors should scan the transaction report and, on a test basis, examine the supporting documentation of tag withdrawals. Evidence of such review should be documented in writing;

(17)priority be given to acquiring the required computer server for the Parking Tag Management System and making the necessary arrangements with the appropriate provincial ministries and financial institutions to ensure that all computer systems related to parking tag operations are Year 2000 compliant by September 1999, as planned;

(18)PTO management develop an action plan with specific time lines to implement the recommendations contained in this report; and

(19)that this report be forwarded to the Corporate Services Committee for consideration.

City Clerk,

Audit Committee

Frances M. Pritchard 392-7033

990301.6

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