Up to $10 in additional fines may soon accompany those familiar yellow envelopes on campus drivers’ windshields.

The Board of Regents will decide on an increase in illegal parking fines and parking passes during its May meeting. Acting Board President Bob Downer said the increase would be expected to take effect at the beginning of the fall 2005 semester but could start as early as July 1.

According to regent documents, fines for illegal parking would rise from $12 to $15, fines for parking at an expired meter would rise from $5 to $7.50 and parking illegally in a reserved lot or space would increase from $15 to $25. Parking permit prices would also increase.

“These increases are quite reasonable, and comparatively throughout the country we have lower fees,” said Doug Houghton, Department of Public Safety parking manager. “It’s better to raise it $2 to $3 a year rather than waiting a couple years and increasing it by $15.”

The increase might not seem like much, but with more than 30,000 parking permits, a $3 increase can make a difference, he said. Houghton said all of the department’s revenue comes from parking permits, fines, meters and event passes.

“Parking is an independent enterprise — we don’t receive tuition money, university money or state money,” Houghton said. “And everything involved with parking is our expense, including painting, maintenance, construction and salary of employees.”

For the last three years, parking permit costs have increased because of construction projects, but this year the increase is related to inflation, Houghton said. Last year the east campus parking deck was built, and 1,200 spaces were added at the football stadium. The Memorial Union ramp is scheduled to be renovated, but those costs will not apply to the parking division, Downer said.

“The MU renovation will not dramatically affect this increase.

because it is considered part of the Memorial Union and therefore financed separately,” Downer said.

Each year parking fees and other transportation issues are reviewed by the Transportation Advisory Council, made up of students and faculty, before they are presented to the Board of Regents. But parking fines, other than handicap fines, have not increased in years, Houghton said.

“A concern for DPS is that the fines might not be providing a good enough deterrent for illegal parking,” Houghton said.

There are no objections to raising fines and permit costs at this time and they do not expect any, Downer said. But some students have a different opinion.

“It would piss me off, because I get at least three tickets a semester, and that small increase would add up,” said Heather Hasty, senior in anthropology. The meters are also a problem because they only give half-hour time allotments, which is not enough, she said.

Zach Husted, senior in marketing, said he was also against it.

“It’s ridiculous because they are taking more money from already broke college students,” Husted said.

The University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa are also asking the Board of Regents for an increase in their permit costs and fines, Downer said.

“Rates are higher at Iowa than Iowa State, but Iowa State’s rates are higher then UNI’s,” Downer said. “ISU and UNI are relatively better off than Iowa because there are fewer ramps, which have a tendency to run up costs.”