The City of Prince George will be passing the increased cost of operating and maintaining its off-street parking lots downtown on to downtown businesses and lot users.
On Monday, city council approved an increase to the 2018 off-street parking levy collected on downtown property owners, as well as two per cent increases to parking fees for 2018 and 2019.
City director of finance Kris Dalio said the city's funding model is to use the parking user fees to cover the operational costs of running the parking lots, while the off-street parking levy is used to cover the capital cost of maintaining the lots.
"Parking structures are generally concrete construction and are subject to corrosion over time; more so in winter climates due to the effects of moisture, road salt, and freeze/thaw cycles," Dalio wrote in his report to the city's finance and audit committee. "The annual average reinvestment for the infrastructure needs of these off-street parking facilities is currently estimated at $870,000 (per) year."
Leasing parkade space from Westel, property taxes and other costs add another $750,000 in capital costs, Dalio said in the report.
"In order for the downtown off-street parking levy to fully recover the capital costs of the off street parking fund, the levy should be increased to $1.62 million ($870,000 plus $750,000)," Dalio wrote in his report. "This is a long-term goal to make the service self-sustaining and (city) administration is recommending an initial step to get there by increasing the levy by $150,000 to a total of $900,000 (per) year."
The $150,000 increase will be spread over the 266 properties zoned C1 in the downtown core, Dalio said on Monday. That results in an average levy increase of approximately $564 per property owner in 2018.
"That's a significant tax on the local businesses," Coun. Brian Skakun said.
Currently the cost for a stall in one of the city's parking lots or parkades downtown ranges from $53.73 to $132.25 per month before tax. The two per cent increase for 2018 amounts to an extra $1.08 to $2.65 per month, before tax.
In his report to the finance and audit committee, Dalio said since the city implemented the three-hour parking zone downtown, the vacancy rate at downtown parking lots has dropped from 24 per cent (392 stalls) to 13.5 per cent (213 stalls).
"In addition to increased monthly rentals, the use of the hourly/daily lots has averaged over 3,900 transactions per month," Dalio wrote. "This is an increase from the 2,600 transactions a month preceding the enactment of the (three-hour) downtown parking zone."
