By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — Fines from those issued summonses during Bike Week could more than offset the shortfall the city incurred providing public services during the nine-day event, according to City Manager Eileen Cabanel.

About $20,000 could be headed into the General Fund if everyone who was issued a summons by Laconia Police for breaking one or more of four city ordinances during the June 7-15 rally either pays the fines or is found guilty in court and ordered to pay, Cabanel said Wednesday.

The potential windfall is an unexpected blessing for the city which had estimated that it would pay out between $12,000-$15,000 more on police, fire and public works services than it would recoup in site plan and vendor license fees and other income for Bike Week 2003.

"This is something that has been happening forever that I don’t think the city manager knew about," explained Laconia Police Chief Tom Oetinger, "but every time we write a summons for a city ordinance violation — 365 days a year — the fine for that is returned to the city by the (state) Administrative Office of Courts and that has been the standard practice for as long as I remember."

"Whether we write a summons for Motorcycle Week, the Fourth of July or Christmas Day, if it’s a city ordinance ... that individual, when they pay the fine, that amount is returned in a bulk, lump payment to the city," said Oetinger.

The bulk payment method, he said, means there is no way to segregate out what portion of the money came specifically from Bike Week summonses.

For Bike Week 2003, the Laconia District Court, for purposes of greater efficiency, set fines for breaking city ordinances ahead of time rather than processing the summonses and then mailing notification to the offenders, said Oetinger.

He said the fine for violating the Laconia ordinance against drinking in public was $120; for misuse of power (smoke shows and the like), $72; unnecessary noise, $72; and public indecency, $300.

Laconia Police issued 252 summonses over the entire length of Bike Week, said Oetinger, which included for the four city ordinances as well as for the state’s open container and disorderly conduct laws.

Oetinger said he’s never paid much attention to how much money the city makes in fines during Bike Week "because our purpose isn’t generating revenue but keeping public order."

"I really don’t have a reference point because we never looked at it from the perspective of money," he said. Instead, "our intent is to make sure people obey the laws," said Oetinger, "and for us to protect order and public safety, we issue summonses."

Along with consistent enforcement of laws, the chief said summonses are a tool to hopefully get an ever-increasing number of people to obey the law.

For Bike Week 2003, "I think we took a much harder enforcement line for drinking in public so I strongly suspect that summonses for drinking in public are strongly up but I think that pays off in the long run" since someone who was fined for the offense once, is less likely to make the mistake a second time, Oetinger said.

Oetinger hopes that the result of his officers issuing summonses for drinking in public, misuse of power, unnecessary noise and public indecency will have an effect analogous to the LPD crackdown on illegal parking during Bike Week.

"Those vehicles got towed and in previous years we towed a significant number of vehicles, but this year the numbers were down considerably and that was a result of people realizing that we mean business," said Oetinger.

In general, he continued, "if our enforcement policy remains consistent and we hold people accountable to the ordinances, I anticipate that as the years go on, the summonses and number of arrests should diminish."

Fewer illegal activities should translate to an even safer community, said Oetinger who nonetheless worried that some residents will try to find ulterior motives in how the LPD issues summonses.

"My concern is people are going to think we’re trying to raise money for the city and that’s just not the case," Oetinger said. "Next year, hopefully people will be a little more restrained and it’d be great to get into a situation where we issue a minimum number of summonses."