City staff: vouchers and targeted fee changes could help workers and events but legal and budget limits apply

Transportation and parking staff briefed the committee Aug. 19 on parking rates, space-closure charges and existing voucher tools that could be used to support downtown workers and event attendees.

Jessica Morris, assistant director of transportation, and Sabrina Tully, parking services division manager, described current fees: on-street meters at $2.50 per hour, city garage parking $2 per hour with a recent daily maximum reduced from $25 to $15, and a $25 per-day-per-space charge for meter and nonmetered space closures related to events or construction. Tully said the closure fee applies regardless of whether the space would otherwise be free on a given day.

Morris said Parking Services already offers a voucher/validation product with a 15% bulk discount for purchases above $300 (or 300 validations) that can be sold or distributed by businesses or event organizers. However, Morris and legal staff explained the parking operation is an enterprise fund and the city cannot provide targeted fee waivers for selected groups or events without an offsetting revenue source; any blanket reduction (for example, waive closure fees on Sundays) would have to be applied equitably to all users and would require council-level direction.

Council members asked several operational questions: whether vouchers can be purchased by groups of businesses now (staff said yes), whether Sunday parking closures still incur closure fees (staff confirmed yes), and how quickly parking or voucher changes could be implemented. Staff said permits and vouchers could be accelerated for fall events but that structural changes — such as switching the free-meter day from Sunday to Monday to incent weekday visits — require further analysis, staffing adjustments and possibly budget treatment.

Several committee members separately urged the city to prioritize monthly permit options and additional monthly on-street permits targeted to downtown workers as a practical way to reduce worker parking burdens; staff said a planned meter expansion and monthly permit program for South Slope will be implemented when construction on nearby projects concludes.

What’s next: staff will return with more detailed cost and timeline estimates for voucher outreach, a possible Sunday/weekday fee pilot, monthly permit options for workers, and a summary of the legal constraints and required council actions to implement any fee changes.