Memorandum
City of
City Manager’s Office
TO: |
David L. Corliss,
City Manager |
FROM: |
Jonathan Douglass,
Assistant to the City Manager |
CC: |
Ron Olin, Chief of
Police Toni Wheeler, Legal
Director Roger Zalneraitis,
Economic Development Coordinator/Planner |
DATE: |
June 4, 2009 |
RE: |
Downtown Parking
Proposal |
The city has been in discussions
with representatives of downtown
In 2008 the city collected $378,837
from the parking meters and $479,484 in overtime fines. Those overtime fine
collections were unusually high due to increased efforts to collect delinquent
payments. For 2009 the city budgeted to receive $390,000 from meter collections
and $360,000 from overtime fine collections. Representatives of downtown
For additional information please
see the attached downtown parking map
and downtown parking lot capacity map.
Short Term Parking on
Proposal:
On each side of each block of Massachusetts Street, add two parking stalls that
would be metered at rate of $0.25 for fifteen minutes (total of four such
stalls on each block) – the purpose is to allow/encourage quick customer in/out
traffic (pick up watch repair, pick up ordered food, etc.). Raise the overtime
fine for these meters to $5.00 from the standard $2.00.
Background:
Currently, all of the metered parking on
Staff
Analysis: Fifteen minute meters would require signage of some sort to
differentiate them from others on
Revenue Impact: The impact on revenues of adding of total of twenty fifteen minute meters with $5.00 overtime fines would be modest.
Enforcement Hours
Proposal: Enforce meters 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday; enforce meters on Sunday 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Background:
Parking enforcement hours are currently
Staff Analysis: Meters are currently enforced for 7.5 hours daily, six days per week. Staff recommends expanding Monday – Saturday enforcement hours to 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (8.5 hours daily), which would capture more of the higher demand evening parking hours. The existing staffing levels would be split into two overlapping shifts in order to cover the expanded hours at no additional cost to the city.
Staff does not
recommend extending enforcement hours beyond
Staff does not recommend adding Sunday enforcement hours because the cost of adding staffing to that shift would largely negate the increased collections.
Revenue Impact: Adding an hour of enforcement Monday – Saturday would result in collection of an additional $49,467 annually. Adding four hours of enforcement on Sunday would result in approximately $32,978 additional revenue.
Overtime Parking Fines
Proposal: Change the overtime fine from $2.00 to $3.00.
Background: The fine for overtime meters and overtime parking in non-metered lots downtown is currently $2.00, with an additional $8.00 late charge if not paid within 10 days.
Staff Analysis: A survey of other city downtown areas and competing commercial districts seems to indicate that $3.00 overtime parking fines would still be low in comparison. Staff recommends raising the overtime fine to $3.00 and also raising the late charge to $12.00, for a total of $15.00.
Staff also recommends adoption of an amended habitual violator ordinance to allow an additional enforcement tool against repeat, abusive violators of the parking laws. See attached memo for more information.
Revenue Impact: Raising overtime fees to $3.00 with a $7.00 late charge ($10.00 total) should result in $47,763 additional revenue, and raising them to $3.00 with a $12.00 late charge ($15 total) should result in $104,678 additional revenue.
Raising overtime fees to $5.00 with a $5.00 late charge ($10.00 total) would result in $139,572 additional revenue, and raising them to $5.00 with a $10.00 late charge ($15.00 total) would result in $197,962 additional revenue.
Time Limits on
Proposal:
Change current
Background:
Meters on
Staff
Analysis: Shortening the time limits on
Staff recommends
concurring with the proposal to change the
Revenue Impact: If meter rates stay the same, simply changing the time limits from two hours to 1.5 hours should not significantly change the revenue estimates. See the next section, “Meter Rates,” for estimates of how new rates combined with 1.5 hour meters will affect revenues.
Meters Rates
Proposal:
Charge $0.25 per half hour on
Background:
Meter rates downtown are currently the following (the meters on
Current Downtown
Meter Rates |
|||
|
30 min. meters |
2 hour meters |
5 & 10 hour meters |
10 minutes |
$0.05 |
|
|
12 minutes |
|
$0.05 |
|
20 minutes |
$0.10 |
|
|
24 minutes |
|
$0.10 |
|
30 minutes |
$0.25 |
|
$0.05 |
1 hour |
|
$0.25 |
$0.10 |
2.5 hours |
|
|
$0.25 |
Staff
Analysis: Increasing rates on
Staff recommends
the following rate structure for downtown meters, which incorporates the
proposed $0.25 per half hour on
These recommended rates seem reasonable compared to other communities surveyed.
Staff Recommended Downtown Meter Rates |
|||||
|
15 minute meters (new) |
30 minute meters (match 1.5 hr meters) |
1.5 hour meters (new) |
2 hour meters (no change) |
5 & 10 hour meters (no change) |
3 minutes |
$0.05 |
|
|
|
|
6 minutes |
$0.10 |
$0.05 |
$0.05 |
|
|
10 minutes |
|
|
|
|
|
12 minutes |
|
$0.10 |
$0.10 |
$0.05 |
|
15 minutes |
$0.25 |
|
|
|
|
20 minutes |
|
|
|
|
|
24 minutes |
|
|
|
$0.10 |
|
30 minutes |
|
$0.25 |
$0.25 |
|
$0.05 |
1 hour |
|
|
|
$0.25 |
$0.10 |
2.5 hours |
|
|
|
|
$0.25 |
Per minute rate |
$0.01667 |
$0.00833 |
$0.00833 |
$0.00417 |
$0.00167 |
Revenue
Impact: Making only the proposed change ($0.25 per half hour on 1.5 hour
meters on
Summary of Recommendations and
Cumulative Revenue Impact
Staff recommends the following changes to the downtown parking system:
§
Implement two fifteen-minute meters on each side
of each block of
§ Establish parking enforcement hours at 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday – Saturday;
§ Raise overtime parking fines to $3.00 with an additional $12.00 late payment charge;
§ Adopt an amended habitual violator ordinance;
§
Change
§ Establish meter rates as recommended in “Staff Recommended Downtown Meter Rates” table above.
Making all of these changes, and factoring in 20% reductions in the increased revenues due to change in parking behavior (e.g. people seeking out the cheaper/free lots, staying at the more expensive meters for shorter time, and being more careful not to get overtime violations), the cumulative estimate of increased revenue is $219,567 (or a $163,024 increase in meter collections and a $56,543 increase in overtime fine collections).
There would be various one time costs to making changes to the enforcement times, meter time limits and/or rates. It would cost approximately $4,000 to change enforcement hours plates, rate plates, and stickers on the affected meters. The meters are reprogrammed individually using a hand held computer unit that plugs into the meter. It would take approximately 59 hours of staff time to reprogram the meters at an approximate cost of $1,200. The staff time is an opportunity cost because that time would normally be spent on parking enforcement.
Staff recommends making these changes effective August 1, 2009, before the bulk of university students return for the fall semester.
ACTION: Direct staff as appropriate.