Borough Council to Raise Parking Revenues by $200,000 in 2005

Candace Braun

On the heels of installing new parking meters and completing construction of the new Spring Street parking garage, Borough Council is looking to raise parking revenue for 2004 and 2005.

Council passed a resolution at its May 4 meeting that will increase parking revenue by $50,000 in 2004, and $200,000 in 2005. Council voted 4 to 1 in favor of the resolution, with Councilman Andrew Koontz voting against it.

The resolution was presented by Councilman Roger Martindell, who said he wanted to use parking revenue as a way to reduce the predicted $21.86 million budget for 2004. The predicted budget would raise Borough taxes by 14 cents, bringing them up to 86 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

"We're relying more and more on our property taxes to pay our bills," said Mr. Martindell. "We have a significant increase in our taxes this year, but not a significant increase in our parking revenue."

Mr. Martindell presented figures to Council that showed that in 1988, parking revenue accounted for 12.8 percent of the budget. In 1993 and 1998, that dropped to 11.1 percent. Parking revenue decreased more significantly in 2003, down to 9.1 percent, and again to 8.1 percent for the proposed 2004 budget.

Parking revenue may have dropped significantly over the last two years because the Park-and-Shop lot on Spring Street was closed during that time.

Mr. Martindell's original resolution proposed an increase of $200,000 in parking revenue for the 2004 budget, however both Ms. Karcher and Councilman David Goldfarb said they felt that it was too late to introduce such a significant difference in parking revenue for this year.

The resolution was amended to increase revenue by $50,000 in 2004, and then increase it again by $200,000 in 2005.

Subhead: Cutting the Budget

Mr. Koontz, who was the sole vote against the resolution, said he fears that Council is spending too much time focusing on ways to increase revenue, rather than looking at ways to reduce current expenditures.

Some options that Mr. Koontz listed were consolidating the Borough and Township police departments, changing the Borough's reconstruction plan to fit its current means, and sharing some services with other municipalities and the county.

"I think these proposals combined could save [the Borough] a lot more than $200,000," said Mr. Koontz.

Councilwoman Wendy Benchley agreed with Mr. Koontz. Both Council members said they felt that the downtown area needed a break after so much construction.

"Let's give our downtown a moment to breathe," said Mr. Koontz.

Ms. Benchley also said she felt that increasing parking fees could drive visitors away, thus taking business away from stores.

"Visitors are also the lifeblood of our town," she said.

Robert Bruschi, Borough administrator, said he felt that increasing parking revenues could be a good source of tax relief for the Borough. He said he will prepare some potential possibilities for ways the Borough could increase revenue, and present the information at Council's May 25 meeting.

While the Borough had announced it might vote on the 2004 budget on May 25, Mr. Bruschi said that it is unlikely the Borough will have state approval to adopt the budget by that date.