Higher fines for parking violations are in the works, with Napa proposing to use "the boot" to immobilize vehicles belonging to parking scofflaws.

The Napa City Council will review staff recommendations for raising fines and booting the vehicles of chronic violators on Tuesday night.

One recommendation -- upping the overtime parking fine from $30 to $45 -- has been withdrawn so the business community can study the larger issue of timed zones throughout downtown.

The two-hour limit on street and surface lot parking may need to be raised to three hours to accommodate the growing numbers who come downtown to dine and shop, said Cathy Salerno, president of the Napa Downtown Association.

"Here you are in the middle of a facial or are eating or whatever and you're running out to your car," Salerno said.

The Napa Downtown Association and the Napa Chamber of Commerce will be forming a committee in January to review downtown parking and make recommendations to the council.

Parking limits haven't been changed in nearly a dozen years, during which time downtown has had a restaurant explosion, said Jed Christensen, the city's finance director. "Two hours was probably enough when you didn't have a lot of restaurants in downtown," he said.

City officials want whatever the business community thinks is best, Christensen said. "We'd be better off having people spending money than collecting fines and making people angry," he said.

Cassandra Walker, the city's redevelopment manager, said the study by merchants and chamber members may help clarify the varying needs of different kinds of businesses.

Restaurant and stores often benefit from longer parking times while law firms and other offices may prefer shorter limits that promote parking turnover, she said.

One chronic issue is where do downtown employees park, Walker said. Business owners prefer that workers do not occupy the most convenient spaces, she said.

The two-hour limit is creating "more static" than it used to, said Craig Smith, executive director of the Napa Downtown Association. Some merchants pay the overtime parking tickets of their best customers, he said.

Sandi Perlman, owner of The Napa Valley Emporium in Napa Town Center, said her customers never complain about two hour limits on surface lots and on the street. Parking garages that offer free all-day parking are within easy walking distance of most of downtown, she said.

Parking enforcement officers write 6,000 overtime parking tickets annually, said Allen Isidro, the city's revenue manager. They bring in $180,000 a year, or would if everyone paid their fine.

Because there are 40 to 50 scofflaws with five or more parking tickets, the city is carrying $20,000 in unpaid fines from month to month, Isidro said.

On Tuesday, the finance department will recommend that vehicles belonging to scofflaws be immobilized when enforcement officers find them.

Violators would have to pay all owed tickets, including late charges, as well as a $100 "scofflaw" fee and an additional $100 tow company booting fee.

Among the proposed higher penalties are: red zone parking, $45 to $75; parking in posted no parking areas, $45 to $75; parking in the garages between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., $20 to $40; parking in handicapped zones, $280 to $300; parking in bike lanes, $25 to $75, and parking more than 18 inches from the curb, $25 to $40.

Isidro said the number of parking tickets increased earlier this year when the city began using a $75,000 video system tied to a computer. As motorists have adjusted to tougher enforcement, the number of tickets has declined, he said.