NEWS | Wednesday, 25 February 2009

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James Debono
The president of the local councils association Michael Cohen has blamed the increasing number of unpaid fines on the Petitions Board, a board of appeal which overturns fines issued by local wardens.
Reacting to mayors’ declarations that councils are incurring losses from the warden system, the Kalkara mayor said the system was becoming more expensive because thousands of fines were being quashed by the petitions board.
Cohen explained that local councils pay a portion of each fine to Datatrak, which provides the IT infrastructure for wardens, the local tribunals, and the companies that provide the wardens.
The payment is effectively for the ‘dishing out’ of the fine by the warden. So when the petitions board quashes a fine, councils still have to pay these service providers for actually issuing the fine.
“The fact that many fines are not being paid is creating a cash flow problem for councils,” Cohen said.
Since its inception in 2006, the petitions board overturned 11,318 fines issued by different law enforcement agencies: 7,365 were fines issued by wardens, and another 2,148 were fines for contraventions recorded by speed cameras or CCTV.

Loopholes
Cohen said the petitions’ system is what enables drivers to transfer their licenses even if they have pending or unpaid contraventions. “They can transfer their license without having paid their dues. Following the transfer the fines are never paid to the councils.”
In some instances, different wardens issue fines to the same offender, for the same offence in the space of a few days – for example for not having the licence attached to the windscreen.
“In this case, the offender only has to pay once for the contravention. But councils have to pay Datatrak and the wardens for each of the fines issued,” Cohen said.
Cohen said warden companies, which number three in Malta, must find better quality wardens.
“Wardens have had so much bad publicity that companies find it hard to find suitable wardens. If they find wardens who are proud of their job and not people simply desperate for a job, they will perform better and incur less expenses for the councils.”
And while he lauds Datatrak for their state-of-the-art tracking system, he says wardens are not even switching on their handsets, making it impossible to track their movements.
But he said the system still leaves “a good surplus” despite its considerable expenses, particularly for towns which have more traffic and which employ more wardens to dish out fines.
Overall, Cohen is positive about the warden system. “Nobody can say that the traffic situation has not improved since 2000 when wardens were introduced.”

Fine year in 2008
Despite a staggering expense of €620,955 for the service providers, the Central Joint Committee (Hamrun, Msida, Pietà, Qormi, Siggiewi and Zebbug) still managed a €379,729 surplus in 2008.
Only Siggiewi reported a loss – but the locality only employs wardens for just two hours a week and only in its rural areas.
Zebbug on the other hand netted €212,132 from wardens and speed cameras.
Anthony Borg Cardona, the committee’s authorised officer, said this surplus finances social, educational and cultural activities not covered by the government’s allocation to the councils.
“Overall the councils are satisfied with what has been achieved since the introduction of the local enforcement system as regards discipline and safety on the road in their localities,” Borg Cardona said.
But the joint committee is calling for an overhaul to make the local enforcement system (LES) more efficient and transparent, namely by removing archaic contraventions, overhauling of petitions board, and reducing operational costs.
The Zejtun Joint Committee (Ghaxaq, Gudja, Marsaxlokk, Paola, Santa Lucija, Tarxien and Zejtun) only made a surplus of €121,549 between 2005 and 2008.
“When the LES started, all councils ensured and still insist that the LES should not be utilised as a revenue-generating scheme,” authorised officer David Soler said.
The small surplus is shared among these councils on a pro-rata basis according to the load of warden hours each council pays for.
Other councils (Lija, Dingli and Birkirkara) reported earning nothing from the warden system. Mqabba and Qrendi reported a loss: in 2008, Mqabba received €8,450 against a payment of €18,460; while Qrendi reported a €10,630 loss.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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