No changes to city parking policy planned until after November

Shortly after calling to order a workshop on the topic of paid parking Monday morning, the Sarasota City Commission voted 4-1 to suspend the rules prohibiting public comment, with Mayor Debbie Trice opposed.

Frustrations had been simmering since a community meeting one week prior on the issue when public input from the more than 100 people present was restricted to hand-written comments on note cards, despite the format having been previously advertised. That resulted in a barrage of emails from concerned parties to commissioners throughout the week, all included in the public record. 

Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch equated the phrase “hear from you,” included in the advance materials, to speaking. Planning Director Steven Cover pushed back with an assertion the written form generated more and better input

An attempt at organizing a protest over the parking issue was even made, signs hung from a fence at Mattison’s City Grille with a plan to march the one block to City Hall with tape covering mouths in a display of solidarity. That never materialized, nor did any anticipated meeting chamber ruckus as several police officers were stationed around the perimeter.

Instead, 10 members of the public spoke, the four-hour scheduled workshop ensued and, in the end, commissioners agreed to continue the suspension of parking program modifications that began in July. The goal was to enable the Parking Division, an enterprise fund, to pay for itself plus cover impending capital spending needs for garage maintenance, elevator replacement and new enforcement vehicles.

The commission’s parting message, though, was parking isn’t free, and somebody is going to have to pay for it.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

“There is no such thing as free parking,” said City Manager Karie Friling, whose first three months on the job have been significantly occupied by the topic. “Parking garages have to be built and maintained. Streets and parking spaces have to be maintained. Technology and enforcement and personnel and operations all have a cost attributed to them. If the person using a parking space does not pay for those costs, the costs do not disappear. They are simply paid from another source.”

In an attempt to accomplish just that, extended enforcement hours were implemented on July 1, going from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday to 8 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. Fines for violations were also increased, all with the goal of generating $2.7 million in additional revenue to cover Parking Division operating costs, parking deck bond service and perhaps subsidize the Bay Runner trolley, the city's cost of which is $924,231.

Downtown merchants and restaurant owners immediately began lodging complaints that the changes adversely impacted their business as customers opted for shopping and dining destinations with free parking, such as University Town Center and downtown Venice. On Aug. 3, the City Commission suspended the changes and scheduled the community meeting and workshop.

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Possible solutions presented by Cover included a 50-cent hike in parking rates across the board, which he said would cover expenses; creating a special district taxing overlay for the businesses and commercial property owners, which would have to pay approximately $6,000 each per year to cover the cost; or having it paid for by the general fund, which would require raising the citywide millage rate by 0.5111, increasing it to 3.7841 mills, or $102 a year per $200,000 property tax valuation.

A hybrid approach is also a possible solution, and even consideration of perhaps privatizing the parking decks and removing that cost altogether was suggested by some members of the public.

And in the middle of budget season, the uncertainty of both Florida Amendment 3 and the actual revenues that will be generated by the Parking Division — which had been budgeted based on the now-suspended changes — will require planning for fiscal contingencies with budget adoption required by the end of September. 

Commissioner Liz Alpert suggested the simplest solution is a 50-cent hike above current parking rates, short-term loans to replace elevators and spreading the cost over years rather than up front, and optional parking validation by businesses.

“I think the parking system should be financially sustainable and users should bear a reasonable share of the cost rather than routinely shifting that cost to taxpayers,” Alpert said. “I doubt there are any merchants out there that want to pay for the parking program to make it totally free, but being financially sustainable doesn't mean maximizing parking revenue. It means we should determine what an efficient parking system reasonably costs to operate, and then recover those costs in a way that supports our businesses and manages parking demand.”

With Amendment 3 on the ballot, Friling recommended no action on parking until after the Nov. 3 election. An affirmative vote of 60% on the measure would increase the state’s homestead exemption on local property taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in fiscal year 2028 and to $250,000 in fiscal year 2029. The city has estimated that would result in an impact of $5 million per year in city revenue.