Finding that orange envelope on your windshield will cost you more than usual starting last week, after the city council approved a raise in parking ticket costs.

Any on street parking violations will now cost $40, and parking in a residential area without a permit will result in a ticket of $75, almost double what it used to cost. City Councilwomen Susan Guidry said the increase is better than the alternative, but some drivers are unconvinced.

“I think it is an unreasonable cost,” said Dominic Minix, a Loyola senior who received a parking ticket last Monday, the first day with the new fines.

Minix said he cannot pay the almost $200 for a permit to park in Loyola’s garages, and that most of the available parking near campus is in residential zones, which increased the most in cost.

Guidry said the increase was based on the 2016 budget proposal from the Mayor’s office, which said the city was losing money from parking services. The budget called for $4.3 million to be raised. It proposed an increase in parking meter rates and an extension of the hours they would be in effect, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“We as a council looked at that and listened to what our constituents said, and realized it would be inequitable for people who lived and worked in the most populated areas of the city,” Guidry said.

Instead, Guidry said the council compared the costs of parking tickets in New Orleans to other cities, and found that they were relatively low. What now costs $40 in New Orleans costs $72 in downtown San Francisco, and $65 in New York.

City Council and the Mayor’s office came to a compromise, by extending the meter time only one hour, to 7 p.m. instead of the proposed 10 p.m., in addition to the increased fines.

“We decided some of that cost should be put not on the people who live and work in these heavily populated areas, but on those who violate the law with parking,” Guidry said.

Victoria Nocik, a Loyola junior, was not convinced.

“I get parking tickets frequently, especially when I’m working because I can’t always go and move my car. Even just a $10 increase will add up fast,” Nocik said.

In addition to the increased cost of tickets, Guidry said the extra revenue would go towards increased enforcement, particularly in residential zones.

“This will definitely change my cost of living, and yeah, it’s very unfair,” Nocik said.

http://http://www.nola.gov/mayor/press-releases/2015/20151230-pr-parking/