LETHBRIDGE – It could cost anyone receiving a parking fine in Lethbridge a lot more in the new year, if a proposal presented to city council on Monday is adopted.
Urban Revitalization Manager Andrew Malcolm and Transportation Manager Ahmed Ali gave their presentation at a community issues committee, where they laid out how things would look.
Under the proposal, parking fines would rise from $25 to $40. Early fine payments within seven days would also increase to $20 from the current $10. Actual parking rates in two and three-hour zones would go up by 10 cents, from $1.00 an hour to $1.10, while the ten-hour rates would rise from $0.45 to $0.50 an hour.
Malcolm says they don’t know how people will react to the changes, but realizes some organizations and businesses may not react favourably to the potential increases.
“Generally, the public would hear ‘increase’ in the downtown and they may be deterred. We have discussed with the downtown business district, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and others, especially those on the Heart of Our City, and we’re cognizant of the concern of the businesses,” Malcolm said.
That’s why, according to Malcolm, they took a minimal approach to the increases.
When it comes to the ticket increases, Malcolm explained that it’s not about the money, it’s about compliance.
“We want to see people following the rules because the rules are in place to support business and creating turnover. So that the spaces in front of businesses are used for customers, and that the spaces that are maybe not in front of the business or off-street are used by the employees,” Malcolm said.
Any money raised from the potential rate increases would go into a parking reserve for future infrastructure and system upgrades, as well as maintenance.
“We managed to get some operational efficiencies through the new parking meters, however, over time we will see costs continue to go up with inflation," Malcolm added.
"We need to be proactive," he said, "so that in four, five or 10 years, we don’t have a reserve issue in terms of where we are having to be worried about how we are paying for parking operations,”
When city council votes on the initiatives in November, they don’t necessarily have to rubber-stamp both of them. Council could vote to increase the rates, or the fines, or defeat both of the proposals outright.
“That’s because they’re both separate amendments under the traffic by-law. We proposed them together just out of our consideration of administration time, and that they do go together in terms of they work together in a certain way.”
While the main purpose of parking management is the turnover of parking spaces, these plans can contribute to other goals for the City of Lethbridge. That includes getting more people walking, biking and taking transit in the city.
Should the increases be approved, they’d go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Subsequent rate increases would then be scheduled for 2024 and 2028.
