In fits and starts, Monroe's city government has been discussing for more than a year what to do about long-term parking enforcement in the downtown.
On Monday, Mayor Ron Marsh urged the Public Safety Committee to get an ordinance drafted quickly to accommodate the $80,000 that's projected in the proposed 2010 city budget. "Otherwise, you'll have to go out and find about $80,000, or it'll blow the budget," Marsh said.
Well, council members better start finding the money, because the decisions on whether to charge for parking and how should not be snap decisions made on a budget timetable. The council should move deliberately and thoughtfully, especially given the time the city's had to discuss and consider its options, and the indecision aldermen have expressed.
That said, the city should not include any projected downtown parking revenues in its 2010 budget. Doing so would be planning on receiving money that may very well never come. It would be unwise budgeting to count on it. If the council does come up with a parking enforcement plan that actually brings in revenue in 2010, it will be a bonus that helps the city's bottom line.
The council voted to remove the parking meters in the downtown area earlier this year to accommodate the streetscape construction project on the Square. The city's dilemma has been how, or if, to begin collecting parking fees again once the construction is completed.
There has been talk about using a computerized license recognition system or installing kiosks. We think if the city's going to enforce parking restrictions at all, it can do so the old-fashioned way, with an officer and chalk.
Better yet, as we've been saying for the past year, having free, unrestricted parking downtown would be the most customer-friendly approach. Short of that, free but timed parking is the next best solution - one that was brought up again during Monday's committee meeting. The whole idea behind the streetscape improvements is to make the downtown more inviting and pleasing to shoppers. The city would miss the revenue that parking fees and fines bring in, but those losses could be recouped, and then some, if the completed improvements on the Square lead to an increase in business there. That should be the goal.
For now, without any parking plan decided, the city should budget as conservatively as possible. Pull the projected $80,000 in revenue from the budget, make decisions on parking independently and at the proper time, and find other areas in the budget to cut if need be.
On Monday, Mayor Ron Marsh urged the Public Safety Committee to get an ordinance drafted quickly to accommodate the $80,000 that's projected in the proposed 2010 city budget. "Otherwise, you'll have to go out and find about $80,000, or it'll blow the budget," Marsh said.
Well, council members better start finding the money, because the decisions on whether to charge for parking and how should not be snap decisions made on a budget timetable. The council should move deliberately and thoughtfully, especially given the time the city's had to discuss and consider its options, and the indecision aldermen have expressed.
That said, the city should not include any projected downtown parking revenues in its 2010 budget. Doing so would be planning on receiving money that may very well never come. It would be unwise budgeting to count on it. If the council does come up with a parking enforcement plan that actually brings in revenue in 2010, it will be a bonus that helps the city's bottom line.
The council voted to remove the parking meters in the downtown area earlier this year to accommodate the streetscape construction project on the Square. The city's dilemma has been how, or if, to begin collecting parking fees again once the construction is completed.
There has been talk about using a computerized license recognition system or installing kiosks. We think if the city's going to enforce parking restrictions at all, it can do so the old-fashioned way, with an officer and chalk.
Better yet, as we've been saying for the past year, having free, unrestricted parking downtown would be the most customer-friendly approach. Short of that, free but timed parking is the next best solution - one that was brought up again during Monday's committee meeting. The whole idea behind the streetscape improvements is to make the downtown more inviting and pleasing to shoppers. The city would miss the revenue that parking fees and fines bring in, but those losses could be recouped, and then some, if the completed improvements on the Square lead to an increase in business there. That should be the goal.
For now, without any parking plan decided, the city should budget as conservatively as possible. Pull the projected $80,000 in revenue from the budget, make decisions on parking independently and at the proper time, and find other areas in the budget to cut if need be.
