Montgomery County residents may be paying to park at urban libraries in Rockville and Bethesda, if council members repeal a 2006 policy that prohibits the county from charging residents for parking while they visit local libraries.
County Executive Ike Leggett had budgeted $84,000 in next year’s operating budget to reimburse the city of Rockville for library patrons who use city-owned parking garages nearby. Library patrons validate parking stubs at a machine in the library and are spared the $1 per hour fee.
Councilman George Leventhal said he is working with council members Roger Berliner and Valerie Ervin to repeal the two-year-old measure because residents pay to park to use other county services and he thinks the policy is ripe for abuse.
“We’re paying the city of Rockville almost $90,000 a year so those library users in Rockville city don’t pay to park and when they don’t pay to park who knows what they’re doing?” Leventhal said. “People can punch their ticket at the library and have a beer somewhere, or grab a coffee from Starbucks or go shopping and then all taxpayers in the county pay for their parking.”
Councilman Phil Andrews, who supported the 2006 policy, has said repealing free parking at all libraries could “impose a barrier for the poor” and would “establish a de facto admissions fee for the many county residents who have no reasonable way of getting to a library other than driving.”
Leventhal said both the Bethesda and Rockville libraries are located near public transportation, and repealing the policy could also encourage people to take Ride On Buses or the Metro to the libraries.
“If you’re a poor person taking the bus or a taxi or the metro you don’t get those fares comped anyhow when you use the library, so why should drivers?” Leventhal said.
Rockville resident Irwin Charles Cohen said it was “inappropriate” to consider revoking free parking garage use for library patrons.
“It is so discriminatory to think people in Potomac will park for free at their library but people in more urban settings would have to pay to park,” Cohen said. “The county spends millions of dollars a year on parking for council members, county employees, visitors to certain regional centers, so why target library users?”
