Local
Key D.C. councilman floats parking meter rate hike
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
November 12, 2008
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| Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham wants to raise the District’s parking meter rates by 50 percent and perhaps start charging for Saturday parking. — Examiner File Photo |
Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, who has oversight of the District’s parking meter operation, floated the idea Monday minutes before voting with his colleagues to eliminate a projected $131 million budget shortfall and to set aside $46 million more in a rainy-day reserve fund.
D.C. parking meter rates, Graham said, are “far, far below the market rate and constitute a very significant subsidy for visitor parking.” Increasing the price from $1 to $1.50 per hour, he said, would generate $8.5 million more a year, spur faster parking space turnover and lead more people to public transit.
Graham said his proposal, which could be introduced as formal legislation next week, “is not a great burden on those who use curbside parking.”
The D.C. Department of Transportation manages about 17,000 meters citywide. The District collected $89 million from its parking meters between 1999 and 2005.
Meter rate increases are in vogue. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter last week proposed doubling that city’s meter rates from $1 to $2, arguing the increase would reduce downtown congestion.
AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend said AAA wouldn’t contest the rate increase if the new revenue were set aside for transportation improvements — an unlikely scenario. The council, Townsend said, should stop “penalizing” visitors and commuters.
The council’s emergency fix for the looming budget shortfall, which it adopted unanimously, will “address the reality of declining economic conditions that are all too apparent and prepare us for potentially worse news in the coming months,” said Council Chairman Vincent Gray.
Closing the $130.7 million gap meant slashing about $55 million from the 2009 budget, freezing hundreds of vacant positions, delaying new programs and halting infrastructure improvements.
Establishing a $46 million reserve was crucial, council members said, given the dire economic forecast. Millions of dollars allocated to programs for low-income residents, for libraries and for substance abuse programs were shifted into a rainy-day fund to protect against additional revenue reductions. If the economic forecast turns around, the money will be returned.
