Looks like the city’s changes to the parking system are paying off.
As of September, Concord has pulled in $361,086 in metered parking revenues since it upped the prices and extended the length of stay and enforcement hours for downtown parking on July 1.
That’s almost twice as much as it made last year in the same time period, according to city documents. Metered parking includes on-street parking, garages, parking lots and parking card fees.
To put it another way, the city budgeted $1.1 million in metered parking revenue for this fiscal year. At 25 percent of the way through the fiscal year, they have already generated 33 percent of their target amount.
Last year, the city approved changing the rate from 75 cents to $1 an hour and allowing a maximum time span of three hours of parking instead of two. Garage rates stayed the same at 50 cents an hour, and rates for the city’s open-air lots were reduced from 75 cents to 50 cents per hour. Garages stay free on Saturdays, but weekday enforcement hours are lined up with downtown spaces.
Additionally, the city generated $271,224 in parking rental fees, about $10,000 more than last year at this time and 43 percent of their target budget.
One would think parking penalties would be way up, but that’s not the case so far. As of September, the city has generated about $97,185, or 20 percent of its expected revenues. That’s about $20,000 more than last year’s haul at this point.
When you add everything up, the city has already made about 38 percent of its projected revenue in the first quarter of the fiscal year. It has spent about 38 percent of its budgeted expenditures, according to city documents.
There are a few reasons why those numbers look the way they do.
For one, the city tried to give people a break when the new enforcement hours kicked off, said Deputy City Manager of Redevelopment Matt Walsh. “We were issuing a lot of warnings, letting people know that things have changed,” he said.
Also, the increased maximum time people are allowed to park means fewer people are running up against the time limit. Anecdotally, Walsh says that makes the downtown more accommodating for customers – but means less ticket revenue for the city.
Most of the expenses are related to debt service from parking garages, but the overtime line stands out: the city budgeted $3,230 for its parking personnel, but has spent about $6,837 so far. Walsh said those employees are often used to help out at the police department, which is still experiencing some vacancies.
The city was supposed to hire two parking attendants to help out with neighborhood enforcement. Recruitment for those jobs is ongoing, Walsh said.
That imparts revenue in another way, too – fewer people on the streets means fewer citations given.
But Walsh said the city is pretty pleased with the way things are going so far.
“July and August are typically slow months for us, but they’ve been strong this year,” he said. “We think that reflects an interest in the downtown, and also a reflection of the overall economy.”
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he later added. “It’s hard to draw a trend in three months.”
The cost of parking isn’t the only changes motorists may have seen.
Smart meters – which can take credit and parking cards in addition to coins – have sprung up on parts of Capitol Street and Green Street. Upgraded kiosks have come to the State Street garage and the area around Joe King’s.
And more meters are expected to pop up this week on S. Main Street and Concord Street.
The decision to stick with meters in some places comes down to economics, Walsh said. If a kiosks shorts out, that affects up to eight parking spaces around that kiosk; meters cover two parking spots at most.
Concord wants your feedback on proposed changes to the city’s solar rules.
Two public input meetings will be held in the next week on changes to the city’s solar ordinances proposed by the Energy and Environment Advisory Committee. Many of the changes would streamline the application process and clear up where solar is allowed in the city.
The first meeting is at 10 a.m. on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Beaver Meadow Golf Club. The second will be at 6 p.m. next Monday at the city council chambers.
ConcordTV’s annual “Concord On Air” telethon will take place from noon to 8 p.m. this Sunday.
The show features a myriad of city personalities, including staff and elected officials, as well as videos produced by local organizations.
The program this year is dedicated to former Concord High School principal Gene Connolly, who died late this summer after a fight with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS.
Downtown will be lit up Friday night for Intown Concord’s Halloween Howl. The event features trick-or-treating at various businesses, activities for children and live music at a dance party.
The following streets will be closed from 4 to 8:30 p.m.: North Main Street from Centre to Pleasant streets; Capitol Street from Evans to North Main streets; Warren Street from Durgin Lane to North Main Street; and Park Street, from North Main to North State streets.
The event takes place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)