Parking in Iowa City will get more expensive as parking ramp fees, the cost of metered parking and parking tickets fines all increase later this year. The city council approved the changes unanimously as part of a broader package of fee increases at its formal meeting on Tuesday, following a public hearing at which no member of the public showed up to speak about the issue..
The last time Iowa City raised its parking fees, Barack Obama had just started his second term in the White House. The familiar $1 per hour fee at the parking ramps set in 2013 will double or more when the next fiscal starts at the beginning of July.
The cost of parking at Court Street Transportation Center, Tower Place, Capital Street and Dubuque Street ramps will increase by $1 per hour, while the hourly fee at Chauncey Swan and Harrison Street will go up by $1.25. Free parking during the first hour will remain in place at the ramps that currently have it, and it will be extended to Chauncey Swan and Harrison Street for the first time.
The price of parking in a metered spot in the downtown business district is doubling, going from $1.50 to $3 per hour. Parking at meters elsewhere will now cost $1.50 per hour, up from either 75 cents or $1 per hour, depending on where the metered spot is.
The cost of letting the meter run out of quarters will also increase, along with some other common parking fine.
Expired meter:
First offense: warning
Second: $10, up from $7
Third: $15, up from $12
Fourth: $20, up from $15
Fifth: $30, up from $20
Sixth or more: $40, up from $25
Parking in commercial loading zone
First offense: $25, stays the same
Each additional offense per year: $40
Unauthorized parking in accessible parking spaces
$200, matching State law
City code calls for Iowa City’s parking operations to be self-funding, “generating sufficient revenue to cover both its operating and capital expenses,” according to the staff report on fee increases presented to the council.
“The proposed fee increases are expected to generate enough revenue to support the increased costs in operations, funding for the capital improvement program and helps to ensure the Parking fund remains a self-funding enterprise,” the report said. “The expected increase in revenues is approximately $3,000,000 a year.”
According to the report, some of that increase will be used to fund “enhanced cleaning for our ramps and downtown” and “help subsidize fare free for Transit.”
Other fee changes approved by the council on Tuesday include a 3 percent increase in water rates and 5 percent increase in wastewater user charges. The city’s curbside recycling program monthly fee will be increased by a dollar, and the tipping fee at the Iowa City Landfill will cost $2.50 more per ton.
All the other increases also start at the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1.
