Folly administrator weighs in on parking lawsuit
by Matt Poust | Contributing Writer
The Folly Beach City Council is currently reviewing its contract with a third-party parking management service following the filing of a class action lawsuit that argues the legality of the partnership.
The lawsuit, filed by Anastopoulo Law Firm on Feb. 11, claims that the City of Folly Beach’s use of the private company PCI Municipal Services, LLC, to issue parking citations violates South Carolina state law. The law reputedly designates issuance authority to the municipality’s police enforcement powers and would entitle ticketed individuals to a refund.
The lawsuit also alleges that PCI has not only been overly aggressive in issuing parking citations throughout the duration of its contract but is also incentivized to issue parking violation tickets due to its retaining 24% of all gross parking revenue under the contract.
“It incentivizes private companies to write more tickets, as when they do, they increase their profits. Police power should be exercised to protect the public via enforcing the laws, not making a profit off of doing such. Private police profiteering can not stand,” said Roy T. Willey IV, a partner at Poulin Willey Anastopoulo who has broght he suit foward. “We look forward to righting this unconstitutional injustice.”
Folly Beach City Council has held private executive sessions since the lawsuit was filed, most recently on March 11, but it has yet to alter the PCI contract.
Folly Beach City Zoning Administrator Aaron Pope provided information on the current status of these contract discussions and provided background on why these private contractors began being used on Folly Beach in the first place.
According to Pope, parking enforcement duties on Folly were initially split between beach patrol and law enforcement before issues arose with the rising rates of traveler traffic on the island.
“There are over 1.2 million visitors traveling to Folly island annually. That volume outpaced our ability to enforce parking with the staff we have,” Pope explained.
In response to the issue, Folly Beach opted to use third-party parking management companies to oversee paid parking area violation enforcement in 2013 before spreading that authority to issuing public parking tickets in 2019, further allowing other departments to focus on their primary duties.
This widened allotment of enforcement was first carried out by Lanier Services in 2019 before contracts were transferred to PCI in April 2023.
Speaking on the current review process of the PCI contract, Pope stated that the city council is still assessing the situation, and that staff has requested an executive session to be held during the council’s next meeting on April 9.
Once a review of options is finalized a public meeting will need to be held before any vote can be conducted on the matter, which the council is working to accomplish sooner rather than later, according to Pope.
Pope declined to comment on the legality and profit incentivization claims referenced in the lawsuit and stated that he highly believes PCI is simply out to enforce the law on anyone who violates it. Pope also made a point to note that any ticket issued on Folly is subject to judicial review and that any given without reasonable cause can be appealed to a judge and dropped.
“It’s not that these tickets go to an administrative void and the city never interacts with them,” said Pope. “If you get a ticket on Folly Beach, you can appeal that to the Folly Beach Court.”
