In a perfect world there would be no need for parking fines. But Steven Bernstein knows Evanston would suffer without them.

“If you want to call them sinners’ taxes, whatever,” the Fourth Ward alderman said, “it’s just a function of a municipal government.”

To balance the $1.8-million deficit in the city’s general fund, City Manager Roger Crum and his staff faced a number of choices — including possible increases in fines and fees paid to the city — in preparing a budget proposal for the 2004-05 fiscal year, a solution downtown business owners have warned against.

Although Crum has proposed no significant increases in those areas in this year’s budget, which must be approved by March 1, Evanston City Council in the past has seen them as alternative approaches to closing the budget gap — despite some concern that the city might be nickel-and-diming people and businesses out Evanston.

Alds. Arthur Newman (1st), Melissa Wynne (3rd) and Gene Feldman (9th) presented an alternate budget in 2002 that called for $870,000 in additional fees for city services and building permits — a move which was ultimately approved by City Council. Last year Feldman proposed a failed hike on rooming-house license fees, which would affect hotels and Northwestern dorms, as a way to generate an additional $188,000 for the city’s general fund.

But unlike property taxes, which are a fairly reliable source of revenue, any projected fines and fees are cyclical in nature and not easy to predict.

Director of Finance William Stafford said although these revenues remain an unknown, the city has been relatively on target in the past.

“It’s not an exact science, but we’re relatively close … on revenue goals,” he said. “If we err anywhere, it’s on the side of conservatism.”

Stafford said any excess revenue is redirected to underserved areas of the general fund, which finances most of the city’s operations. But Bernstein said conservative predictions are the only method the city has to estimate revenues for the next fiscal year.

In this year’s proposed budget, the city is expecting an additional $300,000 in revenues from building permits. This comes after a spike in these revenues over the past few years.

“We’ve had a continued building boom in the past four years,” said James Wolinski, the city’s director of community development.

Wolinski said the revenues from building permits have already exceeded this year’s expectations by more than $100,000.

This year’s proposed budget does not suggest any increases in parking fees — a contentious issue in the past — but because of a deficit in the city’s parking-system fund, Stafford said, the council could take up the issue in the near future.

The parking-system fund is separate from the city’s general fund and it relies primarily on revenue from parking meters and garage fees. Stafford said the council’s Parking Committee could explore a fee hike, but it likely would not be one that would drastically affect residents and businesses.

“We think there’s room to grow,” he said, “but not too much.”

Mayor Lorraine H. Morton said at the Jan. 10 budget review session that some residents and visitors objected to the city’s parking enforcement.

“Of all the complaints that have come in, I am getting so many about parking,” she said. “They feel they’re being persecuted.”

Despite these complaints, Feldman said, the city cannot cut back on enforcement because of angry calls.

“Should we stop speeding laws because of that, or stop signs?” Feldman said. “The idea that people complain as a cause for changing the policy is stupid. You can’t run the government that way.”

One group particularly concerned about parking issues is the business community. Although the method is only one of many options the council could explore, Dick Peach, president of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, said using the approach fails to consider the effects it could have upon the local economy.

“What we’re asking (the city) to do is not drive a stake through the heart of the business community,” he said. “Every time you raise a fee, you’re driving business right out of town. Who it’s bothering the most are those that don’t come to Evanston very often.”

Due to an editing error, an article in Thursday?s Daily misspelled the name of Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th). The Daily regrets the error.