OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Parking fees in the downtown will double this season, in an effort to produce more revenue to offset the budget.
The council voted last week to raise the parking fees from $1 an hour to $2 an hour in the metered spaces and the town parking lots in Memorial Park and Milliken Street.
Town Manager Jack Turcotte said at the meeting that town staff had researched parking fees in similar communities, and said the new rate is “a competitive amount.”
The added fee in the parking lots will likely bring in an extra $68,000 a year, according to staff estimates.
The meters generated about $150,000 a year at the old rate, said Finance Director Jill Eastman. Although she said she believes the new rates are competitive, she said it may not mean an automatic doubling of parking fees collected, since the numbers of visiting motorists vary. Giving a conservative estimate, she said the new parking meter fees would generate an additional $100,000 for the town.
Council Chairwoman Sharri MacDonald said in an e-mail that the change in parking fees will put the town in a better position to generate revenue outside of property taxes.
“Unfortunately, it is a necessity these days to try and figure out how to deal with the 15 percent increase we have seen in the health insurance, the significant decrease in state revenue, and the contractual salary increases that are part of the unions in town,” she said.
With the increasing cost of government, the only way to work toward tax relief for citizens is to create additional revenue streams, said MacDonald.
Police Chief Dana Kelley said in an e-mail that the cost to convert the two “pay and park” machines in the parking lots is $500. It will also cost a total of $400 to reprogram all the parking meters.
Kelley said the parking lots will be staffed until the “pay and park” machines are converted and the new fees at the lots will begin this weekend.
The parking meters for street side parking downtown will not be ready for the new rate until June, when new price stickers are available, said Kelley. The meters go into operation this weekend and will remain at the old rate until the stickers are applied.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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