Spa City takes step toward paid parking

The $2 you planned to spend on an exacta at Saratoga Race Course might go to parking if you visit downtown this summer.

With revenues running low, the city has requested bids for its first paid parking program in nearly 40 years. Several companies are expected to propose plans for installing and managing a private parking system in parts of the city by Feb. 17, when the bids will be publicly opened, Finance Commissioner Kenneth Ivins said.

Ivins has requested two options: Paid parking for existing garages and lots or a broader plan that would also include side streets downtown -- but not Broadway.

"The average price is $1.50 an hour," Ivins said Monday in announcing a new bid deadline. He was set to open proposals Thursday but pushed that back at the request of vendors who needed more time to put proposals together.

Ivins needs new revenue to balance this year's city budget. He budgeted $1.35 million in parking fees and has said that he wants meters in the ground by May. Four other City Council members tacitly supported the budget by not proposing different measures.

But even Ivins admits that it's not certain if paid parking has City Council support. The plan would need to be approved by at least three of the council's five members. Many downtown merchants oppose it.

Charles Wait, president of the Adirondack Trust Co., was one of several community leaders who participated in a committee chaired by Ivins that studied paid parking. Charging for spots downtown would send shoppers elsewhere, create store vacancies and lower real estate values and tax revenues, he said.

"That's a tax, and a tax is an impediment and blockade, the last thing any area needs during a recession, especially small business owners," Wait said. There could be some support for charging for parking in existing lots outside downtown, he said.

The city eliminated parking meters from its streets about three decades ago, which helped fill storefronts and lift the area economy, according to Joseph Dalton, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, who opposes paid parking.

Presently, many spaces in parking lots, garages and on the city's streets offer free two-hour parking, with fines for those who exceed time limits.

But other destination locations like Lake George have collected for parking since the 1950s without a noticeable decline in business. Lake George meters charge 25 cents for 15 minutes. Parking generated $465,791 in net revenue for the village in 2008.

Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wirth said he would wait until bids are opened before deciding on paid parking, which a majority of the City Council would have to approve.

"Of course, revenue is so important for the city in today's economic times," he said, "but we have to do what's right for the city by looking at all ways of raising revenue."