Rye Doubles Permit Fees for Commuter Parking

Rye residents who park at the train station and commute to work every day will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets to pay for parking come October.

On Wednesday, the Rye City Council unanimously approved a resolution to double the permit rates for parking at the Metro-North lot on Depot Plaza.

Residents will now have to pay $720 to park at the train station, an increase that will simultaneously draw the ire of some commuters and bring much needed cash flow into the city, which, like other municipalities, is facing declining revenues in almost every sector.

In June, City Comptroller Jean Gribbins gave a presentation to the City Council outlining what the city would need to do to achieve a zero percent tax increase in the 2011 budget. Among them was doubling fees for all parking permits and meters.

Gribbins said those increases could generate enough revenue to lower the tax rate by 3 percent. However, the city first had to negotiate with Metro-North officials to get approval to raise rates at the train station.

Metro-North did not agree to the city's request to raise fees for every permit it issues, which would have brought Rye closer to the $570,000 windfall it anticipated from raising meter and permit rates throughout the city. However, the new $720 fee for parking at the Metro-North lot will generate an additional $185,000 in revenue for Rye. The city shares revenue from the permits with Metro-North, so the increase will raise Rye's portion of that revenue from $156 to $336 a permit.

The city had delayed issuing parking permit renewals while it worked out a deal with Metro-North. Permits were supposed to go on sale Sept. 7, but the city will now implement an online renewal process so that residents can renew their permits starting Oct. 1. Non-residents can start renewing their permits on Nov. 1.

Though some commuters might think the $720 fee is steep, members of the City Council said that the price is now closer to what other municipalities throughout the county charge for parking. According to research done by the city's finance committee, the median non-resident permit fee for Metro-North lots is $1,100 a year.

"Given the state of the economy, the parking lot should be closer to market rates," Rye Mayor Doug French said.

The city hasn't raised resident commuter parking fees since 2000; for non-residents, rates haven't been raised since 2004. 

"This hasn't been raised in 10 years, then we've been subsidizing it for nine," said Councilwoman Paula Gamache, adding that new fees weren't exorbitant, but just "less of a bargain" than they were before.

City Manager Scott Pickup said future increases mostly would be used to pay for parking lot improvements, rather than generate additional revenue.

The city is also planning to double meter rates, which are currently $.50 an hour. The proposed fee increase has drawn sharp criticism from business owners on Purchase Street, who have argued that making it more expensive to park may discourage shoppers from coming downtown.

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the issue at its next meeting on Oct. 6.