City Hall is seeing major increases in parking collections since the December arrest of two city workers charged with stealing from parking meters.
When FBI agents busted Charles Bagarozzo and Lawrence Charles in December they were charged with stealing tens of thousands of dollars in coins from meters. When Bagarozzo's home was searched, $47,000 in coins turned up.
City auditors say collections since the arrests are on the rise. Comptroller Mark Schroeder reports a six-month increase of 38 percent.
"There could be some other factors involved. Maybe there's more meters that are now out in the City of Buffalo. Maybe we've converted from a coin collection to a credit card collection. But, still it's significant numbers that we are seeing," said Schroeder.
Mayor Byron Brown says the arrests are a lesson for other city workers who might be considering theft.
