The Toronto Police Service is seeking information on who in the private sector would be capable of taking over some or all of the city’s parking enforcement responsibilities as part of wider police cost-cutting efforts.
The police service has issued a request for information on the public tender website MERX “to gather information regarding the ability” of third parties to deliver services and proposed solutions with a view of establishing future budgetary requirements.”
Outsourcing or reforming parking services was one of 24 recommendations in the transformational task force report.
Several cities in the U.S. outsourced part or all of their parking enforcement services in recent years, including Chicago and Atlanta.
In Ontario, The City of Windsor contracted the Corps of Commissionaires to provide parking enforcement in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, the city said in a staff report that it saved between $275,000 and $375,000 in operating costs each year as a result.
The service’s transformational task force report recommended exploring options to lower the operating costs of the city’s parking enforcement unit but didn’t provide an estimate of how much money could be saved.
The city and police service say the report’s 24 recommendations could collectively save the city up to $100 million over three years if fully implemented
