NORWALK, Conn. – South Norwalk parking fees aren’t keeping people out, city officials say.
In fact, according to Norwalk Administrative Services Manager Kathryn Hebert, who is assigned to the Norwalk Parking Authority, the numbers of people parking in Norwalk are “through the roof.” And it’s a good thing, as the out-of-towners are paying for things Norwalk taxpayers used to support, Board of Estimate and Taxation Chairman Fred Wilms said.
The proposed 2013-2014 $5.4 million NPA budget, which includes parking fee hikes at its lots and garages, was approved by the BET Monday night by officials who expressed satisfaction of the progress made in recent years.
While parking fines are also going up, Hebert and Mayor Richard Moccia said there are fewer tickets being issued. “I had a concern that too much of your income was based on tickets and we worked closely to cut it down,” Moccia told Hebert during the meeting.
Parking violations account for 12 percent of the proposed budget, according to a memo written by Hebert to the BET (attached below). They were 15 percent of the 2012-13 budget and 19 percent of 2011-12, she said.
Hebert agreed that parking tickets are negative but said they’re a necessary part of the balancing act. The authority has other sources of revenue: The proposed budget includes a total of $109,800 from advertising, leases for the Yankee Doodle Garage and the South Norwalk railroad station, concessions at the railroad station and ATM machines.
Wilms wanted to know what percentage of parkers come from out of town.
“If I had to guess, probably around 65 percent, maybe 70 percent,” Hebert replied.
“Those people don’t pay taxes here,” she said. “But they use our services.”
Wilms said that was good, because before the authority was established in 2002, Norwalk taxpayers footed the entire bill.
After the discussion, Hebert cast aspersions on the idea that raising fees would keep people out of SoNo.
“That’s not true at all,” she said. “We have a lot of choices in our lives now. There’s a lot of communities that have good restaurants. There’s a lot of communities that have a lot of other things,” and the price of gas keeps people from straying too far. “If a restaurant or a business has a really good product, people are going to go.”
The private parking lot on Washington Street, next to The Ginger Man, is “packed,” she said.
“It’s substantially higher rates than we charge,” she said. “They charge $5 for two hours. After two hours it’s $10 for six hours. It’s packed. Their permits are $100 a month. Packed. Never a problem.”
There are other indicators that parking fees are not a deterrent, she said.
“Demand at the Maritime Garage is through the roof,” she said. “The pay-by-cell use is thought the roof. Our permit sales are very high, comparably. So people are coming. People who stay all day, that demand is going up.”
Pressed for a definition of “through the roof,” Hebert said parking at the Maritime garage is 26 percent higher than last year, and park all day is up 24 percent.
Hebert said that much of the $15.4 million budget goes to maintain facilities and for debt service.
Expenses for the 2013-14 budget include an increase of 13.22 percent in debt service, or $134,027, the memo said.
Debt for what?
“We did major improvements to Haviland Deck,” she said. “Had we not done that – it was recommended that we close it right away because it was very dangerous. Yankee Doodle Garage had major structural problems. We did structural improvement to the South Norwalk railroad station. We did structural improvement to the Maritime Garage. Even though the Maritime Garage was opened in 2005 – those facilities get thousands of cars. They get abused. Even though you have to put money into them to maintaining them, they’re city assets. You want to keep them around for a while.”
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