The City of Syracuse won’t be seeing an increase in parking ticket prices just yet.
Two 8-1 votes shot down proposals to raise parking rates in city owned garages and to remove a taxpayer subsidy from booting fees from unpaid parking tickets. Councilor and Finance Chair Michael Greene, voted in favor of the changes and said they could be a good way to help the city as a whole.
“We do have a structural budget deficit and the city is always challenged to find new sources of revenue,” Greene said. “So for me, this was a good opportunity to find new sources of revenue to be paid for by people who have by definition broken the law.”
Councilor Pat Hogan opposed the adoption of parking garage rate changes. He said it doesn’t make sense to raise them when the city should be promoting downtown interest.
“Across the country, downtowns are having trouble coming back from the pandemic,” Hogan said. “The idea of us ignoring that and raising our rates in our parking garages when Downtown Syracuse has had challenges since the pandemic is obtuse.”
Greene is concerned that leaving parking rates where they are will decrease walkability and mass transit competitiveness. He said leaving them where they are could create issues down the line.
“I think to dip below the private sector garages could create some perverse incentives a little bit,” Greene said.
Hogan said the conversation isn’t over yet and committee meetings can expect to see more talk on parking issues soon.
