The Davis Square Community

You seem to be ignoring the fact that any city is required by law to include *all* revenues in the budget. This necessitates an estimate of fines and fees collected for any purpose (i.e., they do the same thing with any service-based fee or fine for a violation, not just parking). And that the budget must be balanced to account for how those revenues will be spent. Somerville is not allowed to treat fines as "extra money" -- that is against the law and all ethics of accounting.