How Much Money Does The City Make From Parking

This isn't what I would call a "hot button issue" right now, but I had to look this information up today, and I want to write it down before I forget it. I actually called city finance director Tim Elliot to verify this information, and was immediately reprimanded the the Political Bloggers Alliance (Local 637) for breaking their "RAM" business model for blogging: Rumors, Attacks, & Misnomers.

So, for no particular reason other than you might like to know, here are some facts about parking costs and revenues in 2010.

-The parking garages are managed by Park America. The city will pay them $1.02 million and they will manage and staff the garages and 2 lots owned by the city.

-The garages and 2 lots will generate about $3.7 million in revenue (which the city gets).

-The garages and lots will produce a surplus (profit) of about $800,000, after accounting for depreciation, the money paid to Park America, debt service on the bonds issued to build the garages, and other expenses.

-If you want to know how much money each specific garage produces, you can look at the budget for the Central Services Department.

-The garages and lots are collectively known as "off street parking" and the budget details can be found in the "off street parking enterprise fund".

-The on-street parking is listed in the budget as "parking operations". Parking operations are listed in the budget for the transportation department but as of last year they are actually a part of the police department.

-Expenditure on parking operations is estimated to be $739,000. $680,000 of that is salaries and benefits for parking enforcement officers, and the rest is gas for their vehicles, and other things.

-Parking operations revenue is budgeted at $1.8 million: $900,000 each from parking meters and citations.

-Parking operations therefore results in a surplus (profit) of about $1.06 million.

-The city plans to collect $78,500 through the sale of residential parking permits.

So, to answer the question that is the title of this post:

$800,000: profit from off-street parking (garages and lots)
$1,061,000: profit from parking operations (meters and tickets)
$78,500: sales of residential parking permits
_______
$1,939,500 total 2010 profit associated with parking.

Parking Spot Seekers To Return To Happy Hunting Ground

As per usual, the city is preparing to accommodate the extra demand for parking during the special session by availing the Navy Stadium lot:

The Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session begins January 9, 2008
and runs through April 7th.

Temporary employees of the General
Assembly and individuals attending hearings or visiting their representative are
encouraged to park at the Navy-Marine Corps stadium and take Annapolis Transit's
free State Shuttle.

The State Shuttle makes a constant loop between
the stadium and the legislative buildings. During peak hours, the shuttle leaves
the stadium every five minutes and every fifteen during other
times.

The State Shuttle operates 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through
Fridays. During Legislative Session, shuttle hours are extended until 10:30 p.m.
on Mondays.

A second shuttle, which runs from the stadium, is
Annapolis Transit's Navy Blue Shuttle. Navy Blue leaves every half hour and goes
downtown Historic Annapolis and Inner West Street. If looking for the State
Shuttle, specifically, look for signage on the bus or confirm with the driver
which route you're boarding.

Visit www.annapolis.gov/transport and
click on Annapolis Transit Shuttle Map & Free Fare Zone on the Navigational
bar, to see the State Shuttle map.

There are 2 schools of thought on this.

The "yes" school.

We have to face the reality that we are a capital city, and a tourist city. People want to come here for many reasons, and they have to park somewhere. The stadium makes sense, because the space is already there and it keeps cars out of downtown. Plus, if they are parked in the stadium, they are not parked in my front yard.

The "no" school.*

(*I have heard people say that using the stadium in this manner is illegal, but I don't know why this is the case, so it just gets an asterisk.)

The city always dumps all of its parking needs on Ward 2. What about shuttling people from the mall, or from school parking lots? Our quality of life is an afterthought to the city--they only care about their precious downtown.

Parking

A letter-to-the-editor writer broached the parking and crime topics in the same letter today....let's get right to it.

I would be hard pressed to find anyone in Annapolis who does not believe that we have the world's best parking enforcement department.

You're kidding, right?

The city leaders should be very proud of this unit. It provides a necessary service and a lucrative revenue stream to the city's treasury.

Ha-ha!! Funny!! No? You're serious?

If you live in Annapolis, you know that as soon as a parking violation occurs or a meter expires, a member of this elite enforcement squad is on the scene. It is as if they can anticipate where the crime will take place.

Have you lost your mind? I know that all of us have received violations from the city at one point or another, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.

When I attended the University of Maryland, a community with roughly the same number of students as Annapolis has citizens, I determined that I had 15 minutes of being illegally parked before getting a ticket. Here: not even close. And the numbers support my theory. The city collects some $900,000 annually in parking violations. In 2006, the University of Maryland issued 73,000 parking tickets worth $2.2 million in revenue. This is 144% more than the city of Annapolis. If you include the city of College Park--where many of the residential violations occur-- the UMD number goes to $3.5 million. Since the higher number is more indicative of the overall situation, the UMD conglomerate is 288% more prolific at writing tickets than your 'elite enforcement squad'.

And I will not entertain the argument that more people break the regulations there than here.

The mayor should replace the current police chief with the individual who heads up the parking enforcement division. This new police chief could bring proven and effective techniques to curbing and enforcing crime in this city.

The first part of that comment is awful but the second part redeems you. Although it is common sense, I agree with you in that ENFORCING THE EXISTING LAWS AND METING OUT MEANINGFUL PENALTIES IS THE WAY TO DETER CRIME. (See: 2 am license debate)

The current police chief's major fault is in his deployment of resources. I see a lot of seat-belt stings on Forest Drive and driving-under-the-influence checkpoints on Rowe Boulevard, but no presence in the areas where the more violent crimes are being committed.
JEFF MILLER, Annapolis

Unless you live in a helicopter, you cannot make this assertion. You cannot possibly see where ALL of the police are being deployed. However, I would guess that you are right. I would also guess that the department is understaffed, and that part of the problem is that any officer can only be in 1 place at a time. I would guess one more time that if the police force that we do have was allowed to be more pro-active, we would have less of a problem.