Special event garage parking to come at a price

It's back: You're going to pay for parking again downtown.

But on a limited basis.

By adopting the proposed 2015-16 budget Monday, the City Commission also approved a new $5 parking fee for certain special events in the State Street and Palm Avenue parking garages.

Parking Manager Mark Lyons says the city isn’t just charging for parking because it can. Parking garages have costs, and the expenses are heightened during high-use periods such as special events.

“For those events, a nominal fee is an acceptable charge, usually,” Lyons said. “Most people understand the need for that during those big events to maintain the cleanliness and the safety that we’re looking for.”

The city estimates the new fees will generate $111,250 for the parking fund. Overall, the city budget shows expenses in the parking management fund are projected to increase 28%, with revenues increasing 50%.

Even with that additional money, the city's parking management fund is expected to run a deficit in fiscal 2015-16. It is expected to require a $420,000 subsidy from the general fund. 

That’s a slight improvement: Over the past two years, the parking division has received more than $1 million in subsidies from the general fund to balance its budget — a problem for the city.

“This is supposed to be a self-sustaining fund,” Assistant City Manager Marlon Brown said at a July budget workshop.

Lyons has said if the city is to maintain a financially sustainable parking division, some sort of paid parking is required. Of the $5 fee, Lyons said: “We know it’s something that will assure people they’ll have a place to park, and they won’t have to worry about having a space on the street”

"We had plenty (of complaints) about the meters, certainly, but not about the use of an event fee going into the garage." — Mark Lyons

The new special-event fee will mark the second time the city has instituted paid parking in the Palm Avenue garage. After controversy over parking meters on Main Street, the city discontinued its entire paid parking program in 2012.

Despite paid-parking unpopularity overall, however, Lyons said residents largely accepted the concept of paid garage parking.

“Never during that occurrence did we get any complaints,” Lyons said. “We had plenty about the meters, certainly, but not about the use of an event fee going into the garage.”

The event fee for parking is likely to be the first of other paid-parking changes to come.

The city's Parking Advisory Committee is expected to update the City Commission soon on a parking master plan. Lyons said this group supported paid parking for special events. And in committee meetings, the group signaled an interest in a broader paid-parking system, albeit one implemented more thoughtfully than the last attempt.

Lyons said achieving sustainability — including fiscal sustainability — is central to his work.

“Overall, the parking program needs to move forward with that vision of safe, smart and sustainable operations,” Lyons said. “That just dictates everything.”