And they wonder why people don't shop here much anymore...I'd recommend ya go elsewhere if yer down this way..... Money, money, money.
Parking rates set to rise againCouncil OKs parking rate increase
It will cost more to park in Rochester city ramps and at parking meters next year. The new rates, which also include increases for contract parking, are expected to take effect Jan. 1.
Mike Barry says the
34 percent increase for parking downtown is hard to swallow.
“They believe that’s reasonable,” he said of the city’s five-year rate plan. "It's far cheaper to park in Minneapolis and St. Paul then down here".
People holding parking contracts in the city’s six public parking ramps recently received notice that their monthly bills will increase next year.
For people holding non-commercial parking permits, like Barry, the cost will jump from $125 a month to $168.
That’s following a
$20 increase last year.“This is on the heels of several years of annual increases that were also above the inflation rate,” he said.Barry doesn’t live downtown, but he and his wife, Mary, contracted for space in the Third Street ramp approximately eight years ago because she works at Mayo Clinic and doesn’t expect to have employee parking privileges in the near future. At the time, he recalls, he paid $90 a month.
Last year, the Rochester City Council approved a schedule of annual contract price increases that will march that rate up to $288 a month by 2023.
The increased contract parking rates, as well as other parking-related fees, were approved to cover anticipated costs of maintaining public parking, as well as providing resources for additional parking options.
“Because municipal parking operates as an enterprise fund, the parking revenues must pay for parking operations, improvements and expansion,” said Nick Lemmer, the marketing and outreach coordinator for Rochester Public Transit and Parking.
He noted the costs were determined after rate study conducted by Walker Consultants under a $35,000 contract. The consultants worked with the city’s finance department and Lanier Parking, which holds the contract to operate the city-owned ramps.
“Financial policy dictates that the enterprise fund must remain solvent,” Lemmer added. “The rate increases adopted by the council were necessary to keep the fund balanced.”
Lemmer said the rate increases also will bring the monthly contract price in Rochester more in line with rates charged in other municipalities.
“Best practices say that monthly parkers get about a 20 percent discount from the equivalent daily rate,” he said, noting monthly parkers in Rochester have been receiving a 50 percent to 60 percent discount in recent years and the 2020 rates reflect a 45 percent discount on the equivalent daily rate.
The rate increases also come at a time when city officials, as well as Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency representatives, are trying to encourage more commuters to use other transportation options -- such as bike, bus or on foot -- to get to work downtown.
Mayo Clinic recently announced it will increase commuter bus subsidies for employees in 2020 to help ease parking concerns, and it is working on plans for additional park-and-ride options.
The city has also been discussing adding to its public park-and-ride options.
Barry said his wife hasn’t considered the transit options, because they have a contract at the city ramp. He said he’s unsure whether the increased rates will cause them to make a change.
Following the last increase, the number of parking contracts is down slightly.
At the end of October in 2018, the city had contracts with 1,498 parkers. A year later, it had 1,465.
Barry said it appears to counter to the goal of paying for the facility, noting more contract parkers could keep ramps full.
“The 34 percent is ridiculous, and I think their rationale doesn’t make any sense,” he said, noting his payments have likely paid half of the $25,000, which has been estimated as the cost of building a downtown parking space. "This is no way to support people downtown".
Rochester increases cost of parking ticketsStarting Monday, a parking ticket will cost an extra $3. That means the cost of having an expired parking meter will climb from
$17 to $20.
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