USE OF METERED PARKING SPACE BY GOVERNMENT CARS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP57-00384R000200180029-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2006
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: December 21, 1948
• Content Type: MEMO

STANDARD FORM NO. 64
' Approved For Release 20D6/08/29: CIA-RDP57-00384R0002GO180029-2
%W-400
Office Memorandum.. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
STAT I NTh
1. The question has been raised regarding the
propriety of paying for metered' parking space when cars
bearing Government tags are used.
2. The Comptroller General has indicated in two
opinions that payment for the use of metered spaces for
Government cars will not be allowed as long as there is
no statutory provision or judicial decision permitting it.
Iri 18 Comp. Gen. 151, it was held that appropriate monies
could not be considered available for the purchase of
service cards for the parking of Government vehicles in
a metered zone in lieu of payment of parking fee rates.
This was so notwithstanding the fact that the charge for
the cards was normal and the fee covered the cost of ins-
pection, installation, operation, control,'etc. of the
parking area and meters. The question arose when the
Veterans' Administration indicated their need to park
cars within a metered zone for the convenience of dis-
abled beneficiaries obtaining prosthetic appliances.
The Comptroller decided that it was not necessary to deter-
mine whether the charge was a tax or a fee incidental to
the excerise of the police power. His opinion was based
on the fundamental freedom of the Federal Government from
interference by a State. or Municipality, and he specifically
called attention to the opinion of Mr. Justice Holmes in
Johnson v. Maryland, 254 U.S. 51, in which it was stated
that the subjection of agents of the Federal Government
to local law may properly be extended to general rules that
only incidentally affect the mode of carrying out the employ-
ment. Inferentially, the Comptroller indicated that the
identification of the car as a Government-owned vehicle
would obviate any liability for payment of the parking fee.
The opinion was approved and amplified in 26 Comp. Gen. 397
in a situation where meters were removed and the restricted
space was rented from the city. Again, he emphasized the
fact that payment of the rent was not authorized in the
absence of a court decision or a statutory provision.
3. In practice, the problem does not appear to have
arisen- or at least not to have been questioned - in
several Government Agencies queried in Washington. In the
OGC Has Reviewed
FROM
DATE: 21 December 1948
SUBJECT:Use of Metered Parking Space by Government Cars
Approved For Release 2006/08/29: CIA-RDP57-00384R000200180029-2
 Approved For Rele6/08/29 : CIA-RDP57-00384R000200180029-2
case of the Army, the fee is paid)when necessary, by the
person to whom the car is assigned. This is also true
in the Corps of Engineers. The Treasury Department
obtains police permits for everyone using cars within
restricted or metered areas, and the Department of
Interior is completely unaware of any difficulty.
4. Unfortunately, there does not appear to have
been any instance in which a Government car was left
in an unpaid metered space and notice of traffic in-
fraction served by the local police. When this happens,
we shall probably have the clearest presentation of the
issue.
Approved For Release 2006/08/29: CIA-RDP57-00384R000200180029-2