Jasper bylaw officers issued more tickets in 2009 than 2008, however reporting error is preventing the town from comparing fine numbers. 

Between January 1 and July 15, bylaw officers issued 322 parking tickets within the town boundary. Ninety-nine of those tickets were for excessive time and 138 were classified as general. Town staff said that is up from last year, however they’re not sure by how much.

“The stats were underreported in 2008,” said Doug Rodwell, manager of bylaw services. “There was an increase, but previously, they weren’t documenting it.”

The town still has paper copies of all of the tickets issued in 2008, but they haven’t been entered into the town’s database.

Rodwell attributes the increase to staffing and visitation, as he said his staff have had a busy year.

“If you have more fishermen, you catch more fish,” Rodwell said. “We’re fully staffed.”

He also notes there is more ‘rubber tire’ traffic in Jasper this year, which is raising ticket numbers. “When there’s bad weather, people tend to come into town more often,” Rodwell said.

The town adopted the ‘Firepro’ ticket database two-and-a-half years ago, and Rodwell said it took staff extra time to adjust to the new system. Staff turnover is frequent in the bylaw department, Rodwell said, so it takes time to train officers on the software.

Rodwell said he prefers to look at three year trends when assessing tickets issued, and said next year, the town will have better numbers.

For example, the current Firepro ticket system only shows 12 parking tickets issued for excessive time between Jan 1 and July 16, 2008, compared to 99 for 2009. Rodwell says despite numbers in a report to council, there hasn’t been a 725 per cent increase in excessive time tickets.

“It’s a matter of getting staff to enter the data,” Rodwell said. “With a new system, it takes a while for the guys to do it. But we have a good staff now.”

The town also released the rest of its bylaw data for the first six months of the year, which includes 66 tickets for illegal operation of a bicycle, 67 tickets for access to the trailer compound, 19 tickets for idling a vehicle and 19 tickets for dogs and cats off leash.

The detachment now has a full compliment of staff, which consists of two full time officers, one compliance officer and one casual officer.