Council Approves Parking Meter Fee Increase
Also extends meters' hours of operation, doesn't agree about citations
BAR HARBOR—A split Bar Harbor Town Council voted against both the police department and Bar Harbor Parking Solutions Task Force’s informal recommendation Tuesday night when it didn’t significantly increase parking fee citations.
On June 8 the town’s Parking Solutions Task Force discussed policy updates meant to help the town reach the increased parking fee revenue line in the budget that was approved by town voters at town meeting. Interim Town Manager and Finance Director Sarah Gilbert, and Betsy Spear, town financial analyst, presented multiple scenarios that involved increasing hours of metered parking and/or the costs at that meeting and also showed councilors.
The task force didn’t have a quorum at the June 8 meeting. Its recommendation was to increase the town’s premium parking spot rates from $2 an hour to $4 an hour, and to increase the outer parking spot rates (outskirts parking) from $1.50 an hour to $2 an hour.
That increase was approved by the council as were added hours for parking enforcement times.
At the task force meeting, there had been discussion about whether or not extending paid parking hours to start at 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. rather than 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. was a good idea, with most of the discussion being about if earlier morning hours would infringe on business owners getting ready for the day. Those new times were approved by councilors.
Vice Chair Gary Friedmann said, “This town is in a budget crunch, I’d say close to crisis.” With two years of double digit tax increases, the community can’t sustain that, he said. He stressed that the town had worked hard to get the state law changed so that parking fees can be used for more capital improvements beyond streets and parking needs.
“We do have some big projects that this money can help offset the tax burden,” Hochman said of the changes.
PARKING VIOLATION FEES LOWER THAN RECOMMENDED
It was the citations for parking violations that split the council. Newly elected Earl Brechlin worried that the fines were too high and didn’t think it incentivized people to pay original fines or pay meters.
“I don’t think piling on the fines makes them any more likely to do it—to pay,” Brechlin said.
People who violate the parking meter rules and don’t pay the fines are sent collection letters. Special Services Lieutenant Christopher Wharff said that according to the town’s parking consultant, the citation amount needs to be more expensive than the parking.
Wharff said he has legitimate concerns about making it cheaper to get the ticket and park all day than to pay for the ticket. It’s common practice to have a citation be more expensive than parking all day. Friedmann said that having punitive fees isn’t friendly to visitors or residents.
The town’s consultant, police department, and task force recommended the change.
“A big ticket sours people and they feel it,” Councilor Joe Minutolo said. “That’s a cold hard slap in the face to that person from Mariaville or that person from Blue Hill if they do go over. I have a tough time with that.”
“You can now park all day for cheaper than feeding the meter,” Councilor Matthew Hochman said.
Hochman wondered if people figured that out, what would it do to the Bar Harbor parking revenue? He worried if it would have a negative impact. Hochman is also a citizen member of the task force.
“How many people are that diabolical to figure that math out?” Brechlin asked earlier.
The original motion was to increase the overtime fees from $30 to $60, keeping a $5 discount if the fee was paid within 14 days, and then increasing the unpaid citation fee to $100 after 30 days.
Brechlin amended the motion to overtime fees being $40 and the unpaid citation to $80 after 30 days. It passed 4-3 with Brechlin, Friedmann, Minutolo, and Maya Caines voting in favor. Chair Valerie Peacock, Matthew Hochman, and Kyle Shank voted against. The council then voted again on the same wording as the amended motion and it passed 5-2 with Shank changing to a favorable vote.
HOURS AND FEES
The council voted 6-1 (Brechlin against) to update the Permit and Paid Parking Policy, which both increased the number of hours that the meters will run by two hours as well as the costs for hourly parking.
Shank asked if it would be additional costs for enforcement. Wharff said that they are keeping the hours the same.
Wharff said the consultant said that Bar Harbor’s fee structure was low and this is a more middle of the road rate compared to other New England coastal communities. A difference of $2 is the “sweet spot” for many drivers to choose an outskirts spot rather than a premium spot.
Some of the areas of premium parking are on West Street from Bridge Street to Main Street, on Cottage Street from Rodick Street to Main Street, on Mount Desert Street from Kennebec Place to Maine Street, and on Main Street from West Street to Hancock Street. It also includes Firefly Lane.
The current costs are $1.50 for outskirts and $2.00 for premium. It is now $2 for outskirts and $4 for premium. There is a parking app that can inform people of the cheaper parking spots’ locations.
Gilbert said in 2022, the hours purchased in outskirts were almost 360,000 hours and there were 793,000 hours purchased in premium spots.
Brechlin said he wasn’t in favor of increasing those hours because that’s when locals come to Bar Harbor—on the edges of the parking times. He compared it to the world of wildlife where some animals only come into the territory of other predators at those learned off times.
Wharff said the police department doesn’t really start enforcement until 10 a.m.
50% DISCOUNT FOR MDI RESIDENTS
The task force had also recommended offering discounted Smart Cards and tokens to MDI residents, at 50% of face value. Councilors unanimously passed that motion.
Hochman said that he wants the impact of the fees to island residents to be as minimal as possible, saying that he’d advocated for years for this. The 50% discount makes outskirts parking cheaper for island residents than it was this year. It had been $1.50 A 50% discount to the increased fee of $2 makes it now $1.
Caines said she looked at the FY2022 budget book and that 20% of the parking violations hadn’t been paid. Caines asked if these changes to the policy (hours and times) were an opportunity to decrease congestion downtown and if they could be looked at more as part of a solution to downtown congestion if there is a more aggressive fee structure, which could also help improve funding streetscape improvements. Any intake higher than the revenue goal would go into the town’s fund balance, Gilbert said. Caines also asked if they could increase the cost after a vehicle has sat in a space for more than a certain number of hours.
Gilbert said that lowering congestion downtown was one of the goals of the parking fees.
A letter from Bar Harbor resident Jim Mahoney, originally sent to the last council June 2 and resent to include the three new councilors June 18 said, “I believe that there are serious safety issues at downtown Bar Harbor crosswalks and intersections. At the meetings I have attended, I don’t think anyone disputed that there are safety issues that should be addressed. I agree that a safety study should be done to guide the effort to define the remedial actions that are needed. I don’t understand why this issue is not receiving higher priority and therefore I request that the Town Council intervene to fund and ask town staff to prioritize a study to evaluate downtown intersection and crosswalk safety issues.”
Minutolo said that being a non-premium spot business, his concern is that people parking in front of businesses in non-premium places stay longer and you don’t get as much turnover. “Unfortunately, not all of us are premium people.”
He added that the changes “ all sound good on paper,” but is it actually punishing the outskirts of town by incentivizing parking there. He also asked if a flat rate of $3 for all parking had been considered. It was not modeled.
Shank asked if there was any evidence about elasticity of parking and if there is any data that people move to the outskirts because of the fines. He also asked who was in charge of the passes. Gilbert said that passes are issued by the town’s finance department. He also questioned if extending a discount to all island residents incurs a cost to Bar Harbor residents because it decreases that revenue. He also emphasized that he wasn’t trying to be mean to other residents of the island; he just wanted to bring up that point.
The changes will be effective July 1.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/parking-task-force-informally-recommends