Red Bank has waived fees for parking in municipal lots through December 26, as per a request from RiverCenter, and the traditional moratorium went into effect Friday afternoon. Let the shopping begin! (Click to enlarge)
The Red Bank council approved a request from RiverCenter to offer free holiday parking, but not at curbside meters like these on Monmouth Street. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Two weeks after narrowly shooting down a perfunctory request from RiverCenter to offer free holiday parking downtown, the Red Bank borough council reversed its position Monday night.
“What’s changed?” Branch Avenue’s Stephen Hecht asked.
In addition to a minor tweak to RiverCenter’s request, Councilman Michael DuPont’s thinking, apparently.
Meter rates in the White Street and other municipal lots won’t be affected by the doubling of fees for curbside parking, but lot-permit fees are scheduled to soar by 33 percent. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
In the absence of projections, forecasts or even conservative estimates, Red Bank officials appear to be going on hope when it comes to a plan to compensate for a shortfall in parking revenue.
Contrary to a claim by Mayor Pasquale Menna that borough Chief Financial Officer Frank Mason had worked up projected revenue gains from a proposed doubling of fees for street meters downtown, Mason says he has not yet made such forecasts.
As the Borough Council moves forward with a plan to boost non-lot parking to $1 an hour, and jack up yearly parking permit fees to $800, from $600, the only figure that’s clear is how much money has been lost since lifting Saturday parking fees a year ago. Mayor Pasquale Menna says it’s about $10,000 a month, or $120,000 a year.
Following through on complaints about downtown employees hogging primo parking spaces all day, Red Bank officials last night moved to double the hourly fee for metered parking on the street.
The measure, which also increases annual charges for permits used by business owners but leaves the rate for metered parking in municipal lots unchanged, is also intended to replenish coffers hit hard when the town started giving away Saturday parking a year ago, they acknowledge.
“The other reason, frankly, is that because of the elimination of Saturdays, we do have a substantial shortfall,” said Mayor Pasquale Menna.
Meters would have to be fed for two additional hours on weekdays under the plan.
With the clock running down on his decree of free Saturday parking downtown, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna is proposing to add two additional hours of meter enforcement from Monday to Friday.
The move, which comes even as Menna is also urging retailers to keep their doors open later, is prompted by a sharp drop in parking revenue, he tells redbankgreen.
“We’ve eliminated revenues on Saturday and Sunday, and there’s a shortfall,” Menna says. “We have to equalize it by extending hours into the evening.”
The idea, like many proposed tinkerings with parking rates here, is likely to engender heated debate as a public hearing on the matter scheduled for next Monday approaches. Many downtown merchants blame $38 overtime parking fines for driving away customers.