James Debono
Local councils are often blamed for raking pots of money from the fines inflicted on citizens by wardens.
But this is not the case for a number of councils who claim they are either earning nothing, or even making a loss from the local enforcement system.
“Zero euros,” was Birkirkara mayor Michael Fenech Adami’s emphatic reply when asked how much his council earned from wardens’ fines. “No, I’m not satisfied with the present system.”
Only last week Lija mayor Ian Castaldi Paris revealed his council had not earned one cent from the warden system he described as a “burden on the locality and the council.”
Some councils even claimed they are losing money from the system. Mqabba’s executive secretary Anthony Bonello expressed dissatisfaction with “the whole system”, claiming the council was forking out its own funds pay for the privately owned service.
“In 2008 the sum of €8,450 was deposited in our bank account against a payment of €18,460 – a discrepancy €10,000,” Bonello said. “We hope that the councils’ reform will address this issue as the costs are outbalancing the revenue.”
‘Unfair’ system
Wardens are provided by three private companies which contract out their employees the local councils.
Despite the introduction of wardens, the Mqabba council still complains of lack of enforcement, citing construction lorries overloaded with construction rubble not being properly covered, and leaving a trail of rubble and mud in the roads.
“They are also slowing down the traffic to a snail pace,” the executive secretary complained.
Qrendi mayor Carmel Falzon says his council got just €9,075 in 2008 after paying €19,645 into the local enforcement system. “When the system was introduced we were told the system will be financially viable, that the council will not lose any money and that the purpose of its introduction was to educate people.”
Falzon says today this is not the case. He says the system is unfair to those localities with limited commercial activity or nightlife, particularly those with no arterial and distributory roads.
“Notwithstanding that the councils from where a lot of traffic passes do not contribute for the upkeep and maintenance of the arterial roads, the funds arising from contraventions on such roads do not go to the benefit of a pool system.”
Falzon says Qrendi council always lost money except for a 12-month period, when a when councils were using a ‘pooling system’ to pay for the wardens.
Expensive wardens
But even councils with heavy traffic volumes complain the expenses to maintain the system are too high.
According to the Floriana council, where fines totalling €282,744 were issued in the past year, the system costs the council a staggering €12,000 a month.
“Keep in mind that the €282,744 were paid contraventions and thus it does not mean that such funds were deposited in our accounts,” the council’s executive secretary said.
Still the Floriana council is one of the few councils to say that it is satisfied with the system, even if it complains that police contraventions are still issued manually and that these take weeks, if not months, to be processed.
“Until then, people are not in a position to pay the contravention and this causes a lot of inconvenience to both the public and council administration.”
The Dingli council, which expressed dissatisfaction with the service, has not received any payments from the warden system in 2008. “The council has repeatedly asked for a clampdown on waste left by horses and other animals. We have also called for enforcement against bulky waste being thrown down from Dingli cliffs,” a spokesperson said.
Whenever you pay a fine, the money does not go directly into the council’s bank account but has to be divided among the several private sector executors of the system.
Local councils are currently grouped in nine ‘joint committees’, which are regional formations of councils that discharge their functions jointly. They also appoint an authorised officer to act as the secretary of the committee.
While councils and joint committees are responsible for the administration of the system, the actual warden service is farmed out to private warden agencies, and to Datatrak IT Services Ltd for the integrated data system to issue the fines.
There are currently three warden agencies: Guard & Warden, Sterling Security and Aurelia Asset Protection Ltd.
The agencies manage the allocation of wardens for the services contracted by the joint committee. They receive the scheduled route from the authorised officer appointed by the joint committee and assign wardens to the scheduled shift.
Datatrak is responsible for the overall operation of the LES system and provides the technical infrastructure and support to sustain the process management.
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