Portland's Bureau of Transportation—enduring millions in mid-year budget cuts thanks, in part, to unreliable gas-tax revenues—has found a way to raise a bit more cash. Like they've done for the past few years, fines for parking violations will jump up starting February 7—led by a $15 increase in the fine for failing to pay a meter.

Cheryl Kuck, a PBOT spokeswoman, says the bureau is expecting the newly increased fines to raise an additional $700,000 a year. But it's not just about the money, she contends. It's also about making the fines ugly enough that more people people are persuaded not to skirt the law. No-meter violations have gone down, but not quite enough, she says. Other violations have actually increased since 2010.

"The number of violations," Kuck says, "hasn't dropped to a level we were content with."