Error costs Sea-Tac nearly $400K in missed parking charges
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SEATAC, Wash. -- A processing mistake at a Sea-Tac Airport parking garage mistakenly allowed some drivers to park for free, and the state auditor now wants to know how the nearly $400,000 mistake went unnoticed for so long.
For at least nine months, drivers who paid with credit cards and used one specific exit lane out of the garage were never charged for parking.
The missed charges were discovered in July after a few honest customers called the Port of Seattle to say their credit cards were not charged for parking. After doing a little digging, officials discovered that thousands of drivers weren't charged.
The state auditor says from January to August, the port lost $387,000 to the faulty credit card processing system.
"This is a lack of oversight, certainly a lack of control over this. I think the public looks at it as a wasteful practice -- it's their money," said auditor Brian Sonntag.
Port officials say they traced the problem to a single "ticket spitter" in the garage. Drivers who used the "spitter" to pay for parking rather than the kiosk inside were not charged.
"We have corrected what has occurred so it's not a problem going on right now," said port spokesperson Perry Cooper.
The lost money represents less than 1 percent of the airport's annual parking revenue, but Sonntag said it's still a significant amount of money and wants to know why the error wasn't spotted earlier.
"You can have a problem with the system, you can have a mechanical failure," he said. "Our question was how does it get to that size?"
Airport officials say they're asking that very question.
"That's a good question, and we are trying to figure out from this third party auditor that's going to take a look at this to figure out what it was," Cooper said.
The port hired a forensic accountant to investigate the mistake, and it will not "re-charge" drivers who took advantage of the faulty system.
Port officials also say the total lost revenue likely won't exceed the $387,000 that has been lost already, but the state auditor's office says they can't guarantee that because they've already found other card processing problems.
For at least nine months, drivers who paid with credit cards and used one specific exit lane out of the garage were never charged for parking.
The missed charges were discovered in July after a few honest customers called the Port of Seattle to say their credit cards were not charged for parking. After doing a little digging, officials discovered that thousands of drivers weren't charged.
The state auditor says from January to August, the port lost $387,000 to the faulty credit card processing system.
"This is a lack of oversight, certainly a lack of control over this. I think the public looks at it as a wasteful practice -- it's their money," said auditor Brian Sonntag.
Port officials say they traced the problem to a single "ticket spitter" in the garage. Drivers who used the "spitter" to pay for parking rather than the kiosk inside were not charged.
"We have corrected what has occurred so it's not a problem going on right now," said port spokesperson Perry Cooper.
The lost money represents less than 1 percent of the airport's annual parking revenue, but Sonntag said it's still a significant amount of money and wants to know why the error wasn't spotted earlier.
"You can have a problem with the system, you can have a mechanical failure," he said. "Our question was how does it get to that size?"
Airport officials say they're asking that very question.
"That's a good question, and we are trying to figure out from this third party auditor that's going to take a look at this to figure out what it was," Cooper said.
The port hired a forensic accountant to investigate the mistake, and it will not "re-charge" drivers who took advantage of the faulty system.
Port officials also say the total lost revenue likely won't exceed the $387,000 that has been lost already, but the state auditor's office says they can't guarantee that because they've already found other card processing problems.
If you used a live human being maybe this would not have happened, but as it is, you decided to axe that job in favor a mindless machine that did exactly what it was told to do - blame the programmer and stupid thinking.
"A processing mistake at a Sea-Tac Airport parking garage mistakenly allowed..."
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Or, "A processing mistake at a Sea-Tac Airport parking garage allowed..."Â
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Let's put a $5 surcharge on bicycles in downtown Seattle to cover the undercharge
maybe it was a generous port worker fed up with the boondoggle that is the port of seattle that turned off the parking fees.
The port hired a forensic accountant to investigate the mistake, and it will not "re-charge" drivers who took advantage of the faulty system. -- Â
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The port employee who suggested drivers âtook advantageâ of the faulty system deserves the Stupidity Foot in the Mouth award.
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When drivers insert their charge cards in the parking payment kiosk, I would hardly call that taking advantage. I followed the rules, inserted card, payment authorized, ticket spit out, got in my car and drove away. If you fail to those already authorized charges, shame on you.
What blows my mind is why this was never caught before. You'd think they would do periodic audits and maintenance of the system. Hell, they track everything else around there!
Oh, but no one at the Port WIll get fired over a $400,000 mistake because they work for the Government.
 @DDG ...work of unionized government workers.Â
So which ticket spitter *is* it?
Really, I don't think i have ever parked AT SeaTac, off site parking/shuttle is a fraction of the cost. It's the only way to fly.
Who would call and tell on themselves? Gee Wally, my credit card wasn't charged? WTH were they thinking?
An honest person would do that.
368,000? isn't that the salary for the port commissioner? Plus he has a side job making 230,000 for Expeditors Int, no conflict of interest? These career criminals scam tax payers at all costs. Why does the port need to collect property taxes? They should be self sustaining like most ports, only in Say Wa?
this is why i have a friend or family member drop me off/pick me up at the airport... no parking fees, no fuss!
More taxes though right?
When it comes to someone elses money complacency resides, wow what a shocker, especially at the Port where mediocre (at best) employees are granted a job for life.
 @Brewin4u You don't even want to know what goes on down on the tarmac.Â
It seems to me that if the checks & balances were in place this would have been caught a lot sooner. I would think that the person who balanced out those credit card stations would have questioned why there were so few charges on that certain machine when the rest of them were probably registering serveral a month. I would be looking for a more competent person to oversee this in the future.   Â
Let me get this straight....The parking fees are paid to the port which then pays them to the state? And THEN we have to pay taxes on top of the parking fees???
That's some pretty shoddy accounting from whomever was responsible for this.Â
I'm not sure they "took advantage" of the flaw as much as "unknowingly benefitted" from it.
 @Travis Hartnett I may have been one...if a charge showed up, I'd know if it were mine or not, but I wouldn't think to make sure it hit my account!
I wonder who's bank account it was diverted to?
 @Grumpa It wasn't diverted to anyONE's account, the fees weren't collected from various people.
Good grief on that pictue the parking thingy looks like an absolute dump.
Anyway it wasn't me - last time I paid ~$200 for oh I don't know 10 days.
 @banana3 For more than a day, I always go a bit north and park in one of the non-port lots. Yes you do have to wait a few extra minutes for a shuttle but no big deal and one heck of a lot cheaper.Â
"The lost money represents less than 1 percent of the airport's annual parking revenue". $400,000 x 100 (%) = $40,000,000 (forty million dollars taken in in parking revenue per year). WOW!
 @November_Delta It's one of the most expensive airports to park at in the country.Â
Wha....??? Missed some tax dollars?
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Look at the Native run casinos if yer bitchin about 'lost wages'.
While yer at it, check out the 'new and improved' King County purchasing crap. You know, the one that that creates more overhead, costs more money, and disenfranchises those agencies that need there stuff on time.
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Bloat, bloat, bloat... It's always someone elses fault. Make MORE jobs to compensate for yer stoopidity.
As a frequent flier, I am happy for those people who got to park for free. Â It's nearly $30 a day to park on site!
 @Doxie And about the same to take Shuttle Express from your home and not have to worry about your car in the lot.
 @Furd They flaked out on us once, won't do it again.  Hubby has a corporate parking pass now so it's all good, but they sure do rake in the bucks in that garage.
 @Furd That's great - but when we are getting off a 14-hour flight, we don't really want to wait for someone to take us, we just want to drive off.  They didn't pick us up at 5 am once, but I know they have a good reputation.
 @Doxie Sorry to hear that. Every time I have used SE I have been completely satisfied.
The more computerized a system, the easier the mistakes will occur. I guarantee you that if a human was sitting there in that exit lane, there would have been about ten minutes to say there was a problem. Then another 8 months of figuring out a patch to fix the computer error.
Well that money lost is obviously money better spent. ;)
They gouge the travelers enough that they will never miss it.
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if these govt run organizations would start firing people for stupid thing like this people might start to care about the tax payers money
Um..."Oops?"
The PORT doesn't give a dam, as the taxpayers will make up what ever it wants. The only port on the west coast that can't make money? Look at the Port commissioners and their sweet heart deals with unions.
 @contraryjimÂ
Yeah, blame the union workers...right...that shows how much you really care. So please show how any "union workers" are involved in this failing.
I am with justathought. I scan the bill and if it is about the amount that is should be and there are no charges that do not look like what I have charged in the last month I send in the check. If something looks off I pull out all the receipts and go through the bill to verify the charges. This is the fault of Sea-Tac. They like most government run entities are hemorrhaging money and have not a clue. Time to try and get accountability in this government... Like that is going to happen with the looser that got sent back to Olympia.
The Port of Seattle is an out of control monster. Huge appetite and spending like there is no tomorrow. Amazing they couldn't see a blood loss like this. Scary.
Chill out people! It's not the end of the world! As for drivers taking advantage of the fact that their credit cards were not charged, I'd say that a significant number of them probably didn't even realize that their credit card bill didn't include the charge. When I review my bill, I look for charges that AREN'T supposed to be on there. I don't even look at my receipts for the month unless I see a charge that I don't remember.
@justathought Me too, I was wondering how they noticed they weren't charged. I would shove the receipt someplace and then no way I would notice it didn't appear on my credit card bill while I'm looking for things that shouldn't be there or are higher than I remember they should be. I'm guessing they keep their receipts organized and check each receipt against their charge which is actully a good thing I guess. Or it's a business traveler submitting charges for reimbursement. Good gravy even if I did notice, who has time to mess around with trying to call the right people about it? Â
I would assume the port has an organization structure. Parking garages are a revenue source of some size and a large capital asset. They must fall into someone's cost center. Who owns that CC? How do they manage that asset? How is their performance measured on an annual basis? This isn't that hard to figure out. Whoever owned that asset wasn't awake -either they are inept or port leaders have put the wrong incentives into place.