PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The parking meters are taking in between $16,000 and $17,000 a month, according to Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood.

 

The city implemented paid parking downtown at the start of this year and has become quite a debated issue in the city. The intent of the parking plan was to create a revenue stream to fund repairs to the McKay Street garage. The plan dates back to 2013 when it was developed by the consultants Nelson Nygaard. 

 

The city rolled out the metered parking plan in the downtown, including municipal lots and on the side streets, and created a dedicated account for those revenues. The idea was to fund parking-related expenses from that account.

 

"Since the inception of the program, we have collected $110,893.34. In contrast, expenses to date from the inception of the program, the cost of the kiosks are not included in this, it is strictly operational, expenses of $27,312," Kerwood said. 

 

He is estimating an annual revenue stream of about $160,000. That includes solely the money from the meters themselves and does not include permit parking.

 

The rollout of the meters was slow going at first, with the city halting collections and forgiving many tickets in the first month, and then monthly revenues increased before leveling out during the summer.

 

"It has ramped up over the course of the program and is now averaging between $16,000 and $17,000 [per month]," Kerwood told the City Council's Finance Subcommittee on Tuesday.

 

The City Council had previously approved paying for the annual software and maintenance costs, supplies for the meters, the purchase of a second license plate reader for the parking clerks, and $30,000 for repairs to the McKay Street garage from that money. In total, $130,000 has been authorized to be spent -- but so far only $27,312 has been -- out of the $160,000 estimated.

 

That, however, is a far cry from what was hoped a little over a year ago. Last September, a pro forma was presented estimating revenues of $409,319. Kerwood said he did not craft those estimates and couldn't speak to the difference between the two.

 

"I don't have a clear understanding of what were the underlying assumptions that went into that number. What were the times the parking meters were going be required to pay for parking, was it a full build-out scenario, did it include weekends, did it include nights? I don't have any of that information," Kerwood said, adding that the estimates were old.

 

Those estimates, which are dated Sept. 22, 2016, were based on metered parking from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. in the city's core. Those 331 spots on and around North Street would cost $1 an hour. It was assumed those would be utilized 30 percent of the time. It estimated off-street parking, from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. in the following lots: Capitol Theatre, Willis Street, First Street, Showplace Lot, McKay Garage, Depot Street Lot, Gateway Lot, and the Columbus Avenue garage. Those would charge 50 cents per hour for those 10 hours and utilized between 30 percent to 60 percent, depending on the lot with a total of 417 spots. A total of 502 spots were to remain free.

 

The belief would be that those revenues would not only create a revenue stream to maintain the garage, but also take on costs the city has been already incurring on an annual basis. For example, the hope was to move the enforcement officers salaries, the electrical bill for the lots, parking enforcement vehicles, snow plowing, and sweeping to be paid from that account as well.

 

Kerwood said he was not part of those considerations. He has based his recommendations for costs to come out of that account based on his estimates -- not the previous ones. The operational costs for the kiosks as well as the maintenance of the garage have been moved to be paid from that account, but not the other stuff. 

 

"Based on our understanding, based on the way the program is operating in terms of when we are collecting revenue and where the kiosks are at this particular moment, I am projecting our revenue on an annual basis be around $160,000," he said. "That's annual. There is some overlap because we are now nine months into the program."

 

So far, the $110,000 or so collected outpaces the operational costs of the kiosks after nine months.

 

However, that doesn't include the cost of purchasing the kiosks themselves. That expense was wrapped into other bonds that will hit the city's books next fiscal year. Kerwood has previously estimated that the city will be paying $11,935 annually for the first few years of that, and that will jump to $42,742 in future years.