City Hall
Council Cool to Mayor's Parking Proposals, Could Take Back Authority to Set Parking Hours
At its meeting this morning, the city council's budget committee was mostly cool to Mayor Mike McGinn's proposals to increase the commercial parking tax, to boost parking meter rates throughout the city
, and to increase the number of hours the city charges for on-street parking.
McGinn has proposed increasing on-street parking rates as high as $4 an hour downtown, extending paid parking hours until 8:00 pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and charging for parking between 11 am and 6 pm on Sundays. Those three proposed changes---part of the mayor's proposal to fill a $67 million budget shortfall---would create $7.6 million in new revenues next year.
Although city transportation staff said they had done studies to justify McGinn's proposal---which, according to parking program coordinator Mike Estey, was designed to achieve three parking management goals: maintaining adequate on-street parking, encouraging an adequate number of parking spaces, and reducing congestion---council members were skeptical.
"I have heard from business owners that you're squeezing us so tight that we're sending people to the malls [and] to Bellevue," council member Sally Bagshaw said. "Before I'd feel comfortable raising any kind of rates to the level that's been requested, I want to know that we've addressed those problems."
Council member Mike O'Brien, who seemed to generally support McGinn's proposals, said that when he tries to park downtown, the most common problem is that there isn't enough parking ---something McGinn's rate hike is designed to mitigate. "When I go to park downtown ... I'm usually thinking, 'Boy, I'd gladly pay an extra 50 cents to get a spot right now rather than being late for my appointment,'" O'Brien said.
Council president Richard Conlin, meanwhile, suggested that the city council might want pass legislation that would limit the mayor's power to set parking hours . Under current law, the mayor has the authority to set parking hours without council approval. The council's job is to set a citywide maximum parking rate, from which the city department of transportation comes up with specific rates for various neighborhoods.
"When we [gave] SDOT more control and flexibility over parking rates … we really wanted to rely on the expertise of the SDOT staff in making decisions," Conlin said. "The question I think that we have to answer in regard to this [proposal] is, to what extent do we feel that the judgment, the expertise, is driving this proposal here, and to what extent ... this proposal [is] more of a policy decision , rather than one that's driven by technical considerations, and whether we need to take more authority."
Council members also noted that if they do decide against adopting the mayor's entire parking-meter proposal (Nick Licata, for one, suggested that the council reject Sunday hours, keep weekday hours the same, and set the downtown parking rate at $3.50 ), the resulting cuts could come from anywhere in the city's general budget---in other words, they would not have to come from programs like the bike and pedestrian master plan. And vice versa: If the council decides to increase parking fees, they could decide to spend that revenue anywhere, not just on McGinn's preferred programs.
"Any change we make in revenue sources does not in any way indicate what our priorities are for expenditures," Conlin said. "That is simply not the way in which budgets are constructed ."
Council members also suggested that it might make more sense to do a citywide study of what policies would achieve the optimal parking-space usage (which SDOT's Estey estimated at 85 percent) before adopting a new parking policy.
If the council was cool to the idea of higher meter rates, they were downright chilly to McGinn's proposal to raise the commercial parking tax another five percent on top of the 2.5 percent increase the council has proposed to pay for early design work on the seawall. Without McGinn's five-percent increase, the city would likely have to cut spending on walking, biking, and transit programs, and would be unable to fund its $1.5 million annual commitment to replacing the South Park Bridge .
So united was the council against increasing the commercial parking tax above 12.5 percent (with only O'Brien dissenting) that they dispensed with the actual tax issue in a few minutes, focusing instead on whether the University of Washington, which funds bus subsidies with parking revenues, should be exempt from the 2.5 percent increase . The general consensus: No, although there might be room for institutions to apply for funding for commute-trip-reduction programs in the future.
"This topic came up in large part because UW happens to fund their [bus subsidy] program, which we like, out of parking revenue, and I think that's a little unfortunate," O'Brien said. "How [institutions] choose to fund programs is not relevant to us ." At the same time, he said, he was intrigued "the idea that the city would have a pool of money" for commute-trip reduction programs that could help offset the cost of the parking tax increase.
Other council members, including budget committee chair Jean Godden, noted that if the council granted an exemption to UW, it would be hard to argue against exempting other institutions that subsidize transit use, such as Children's Hospital and community colleges.
McGinn has proposed increasing on-street parking rates as high as $4 an hour downtown, extending paid parking hours until 8:00 pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and charging for parking between 11 am and 6 pm on Sundays. Those three proposed changes---part of the mayor's proposal to fill a $67 million budget shortfall---would create $7.6 million in new revenues next year.
Although city transportation staff said they had done studies to justify McGinn's proposal---which, according to parking program coordinator Mike Estey, was designed to achieve three parking management goals: maintaining adequate on-street parking, encouraging an adequate number of parking spaces, and reducing congestion---council members were skeptical.
"I have heard from business owners that you're squeezing us so tight that we're sending people to the malls [and] to Bellevue," council member Sally Bagshaw said. "Before I'd feel comfortable raising any kind of rates to the level that's been requested, I want to know that we've addressed those problems."
Council member Mike O'Brien, who seemed to generally support McGinn's proposals, said that when he tries to park downtown, the most common problem is that there isn't enough parking ---something McGinn's rate hike is designed to mitigate. "When I go to park downtown ... I'm usually thinking, 'Boy, I'd gladly pay an extra 50 cents to get a spot right now rather than being late for my appointment,'" O'Brien said.
Council president Richard Conlin, meanwhile, suggested that the city council might want pass legislation that would limit the mayor's power to set parking hours . Under current law, the mayor has the authority to set parking hours without council approval. The council's job is to set a citywide maximum parking rate, from which the city department of transportation comes up with specific rates for various neighborhoods.
"When we [gave] SDOT more control and flexibility over parking rates … we really wanted to rely on the expertise of the SDOT staff in making decisions," Conlin said. "The question I think that we have to answer in regard to this [proposal] is, to what extent do we feel that the judgment, the expertise, is driving this proposal here, and to what extent ... this proposal [is] more of a policy decision , rather than one that's driven by technical considerations, and whether we need to take more authority."
Council members also noted that if they do decide against adopting the mayor's entire parking-meter proposal (Nick Licata, for one, suggested that the council reject Sunday hours, keep weekday hours the same, and set the downtown parking rate at $3.50 ), the resulting cuts could come from anywhere in the city's general budget---in other words, they would not have to come from programs like the bike and pedestrian master plan. And vice versa: If the council decides to increase parking fees, they could decide to spend that revenue anywhere, not just on McGinn's preferred programs.
"Any change we make in revenue sources does not in any way indicate what our priorities are for expenditures," Conlin said. "That is simply not the way in which budgets are constructed ."
Council members also suggested that it might make more sense to do a citywide study of what policies would achieve the optimal parking-space usage (which SDOT's Estey estimated at 85 percent) before adopting a new parking policy.
If the council was cool to the idea of higher meter rates, they were downright chilly to McGinn's proposal to raise the commercial parking tax another five percent on top of the 2.5 percent increase the council has proposed to pay for early design work on the seawall. Without McGinn's five-percent increase, the city would likely have to cut spending on walking, biking, and transit programs, and would be unable to fund its $1.5 million annual commitment to replacing the South Park Bridge .
So united was the council against increasing the commercial parking tax above 12.5 percent (with only O'Brien dissenting) that they dispensed with the actual tax issue in a few minutes, focusing instead on whether the University of Washington, which funds bus subsidies with parking revenues, should be exempt from the 2.5 percent increase . The general consensus: No, although there might be room for institutions to apply for funding for commute-trip-reduction programs in the future.
"This topic came up in large part because UW happens to fund their [bus subsidy] program, which we like, out of parking revenue, and I think that's a little unfortunate," O'Brien said. "How [institutions] choose to fund programs is not relevant to us ." At the same time, he said, he was intrigued "the idea that the city would have a pool of money" for commute-trip reduction programs that could help offset the cost of the parking tax increase.
Other council members, including budget committee chair Jean Godden, noted that if the council granted an exemption to UW, it would be hard to argue against exempting other institutions that subsidize transit use, such as Children's Hospital and community colleges.
