From Parking Payment to Public Revenue: Street-Level Transaction Accountability and Revenue-Capture Vulnerability in Kupang City

Alfiana Sangsun Jehamur, I Putu Yoga Bumi Pradana, William Djani

Abstract


: Municipal parking fees are high-frequency, low-value transactions in which service delivery and fiscal accountability are produced at the same frontline interface. Existing research often explains parking-revenue under-realization through target setting, enforcement, collector compliance, or digital payment, but gives less attention to whether each payment remains traceable from service event to treasury recognition. This qualitative case study examines parking-retribution governance in Kupang City, Indonesia, using 20 purposively selected informants, administrative records, and field observation. The evidence shows persistent target under-realization in 2022–2023 and a partial-year shortfall in 2024; these figures indicate a fiscal performance problem but do not constitute a measured leakage estimate. The analysis identifies a reconciliation gap between payment, ticket, administrative record, deposit, and treasury entry; evidentiary discretion when attendants prioritize traffic flow under peak pressure; and weak external verification when users accept ticketless payment for convenience. Their interaction is conceptualized as co-produced fiscal opacity, a bounded mechanism through which revenue-capture vulnerability emerges without presuming fraud by any single actor. The study extends street-level bureaucracy toward the production of auditable evidence, links transaction traceability to public accountability, and argues that reform should prioritize end-to-end reconciliation, low-friction transaction capture, and risk-based supervision rather than cashlessness alone.

Keywords


street-level bureaucracy; public accountability; municipal revenue; transaction traceability; digital government.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.33373/jtp.v10i2.9552

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