Downtown business owners are worried that there will be more unintended consequences to the new fee structure for off-street parking.
In a letter to city council, Downtown Business Improvement Association (DBIA) executive director Carla Johnston expressed her organization's "deep concern" over a potential substantial increase property owners could face to their parking levy.
"If the proposed parking rates 'roll-back' bylaw is voted through, the city will find itself in a funding shortfall, according to a staff report," Johnston wrote. "At this point, we can only assume that these shortfalls will be passed on to downtown property owners through the levy."
On Monday night, council is set to approve final reading of a fees and charges bylaw that adjusts off-street parking rates so they increase by 25 per cent as of May 1 and another 15 per cent annually in 2015 and 2016.
Council approved by the first three readings of the bylaw earlier this month by a 6-3 vote.
The move was precipitated by a push from councillors Frank Everitt, Lyn Hall and Murry Krause to claw back a 2013 decision to raise the parking rates to a level designed to fund parking infrastructure repairs.
At the March 3 meeting, council heard the new rate structure would create a $156,000 shortfall in the 2014 budget and gaps of $69,000 and $62,000 in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Parking needs to be looked at as a total package, added DBIA board president Rod Holmes.
"We've been talking about the parking for quite some time now, with on street and off street, and they are definitely connected, there's no question about it," he said. "And it may be an idea just to have a total review of what it's actually going to cost to operate parking, short term, long term."
Covering the cost of operation as well as maintenance comes from two revenue sources, Holmes said - the parking levy and parking fees. "And then out of that has to come the cost of operations and putting money to a reserve for repairs and maintenance."
According to Holmes, downtown businesses are already responsible for paying anywhere between $750,000 to $800,000 per year as a special parking levy.
An August 2013 letter to the DBIA from city manager Beth James pegged the downtown off-street parking levy paid for by property owners in the C1 area as sitting at $570,000 annually between 2008 and 2012.
"Moreover, we are concerned about the basis on which decisions regarding rates have been made," Johnston wrote, citing a decision made "based on feedback from users regarding affordability. "In our opinion, decision making based on the actual cost of running these facilities was not discussed to the extent that it should have been."
While it's important to pay attention to the voices of the taxpayers, because they're the ones paying the bills, said Holmes, "what we have to do is make sure there is a plan in place - that it's a fiscally responsible plan that will, in fact, allow the operations to be in place.
"We're not trying to take sides with any of the councillors, we're just saying the responsible decision is one that takes into consideration all the facts."
