When city officials cut street sweeping in more than 20 neighborhoods in August to save cash, they knew that the change would lead to a loss in revenue from parking tickets.
They probably didn't anticipate that the city would lose four times more money than it saved - money that would have gone to the struggling Municipal Transportation Agency, which is considering cutting transit service and increasing fares to balance its budget.
Street-sweeping tickets, at $50 a pop, dropped 26 percent on the affected routes from October to December, compared with the previous year, according to city figures.
If that trend continues, the transit agency will be out more than $3.8 million per year in exchange for just $1 million in savings for the Department of Public Works.
The drop in revenue has some city officials questioning whether the cuts make sense, given the city's huge budget deficit and Muni's fiscal problems. The change was opposed by some residents, even though city officials said some streets were being cleaned too often.
Muni officials insist the lost revenue from the changes isn't that high, citing the fact that there has been a decline in parking tickets in general and that the number of street-sweeping tickets on all routes dropped during the same time period. The agency also doesn't collect every cent of every fine issued: On average, about 80 percent of ticket fines are recouped. Spokesman Judson True pegged the annual lost revenue on those routes at closer to $1.6 million, which is still more than what would be saved. But he also acknowledged that the amount of lost revenue could rise, as some of the street-sweeping cuts didn't take effect until December.
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