Pittsfield’s City Council debated parking payments at its meeting Tuesday night.
The lightly attended meeting saw Pittsfield’s leaders discuss the city’s parking situation in great detail.
The conversation focused on a request from the city to raise spending on parking infrastructure. Pittsfield’s Director of Finance and Administration Matthew Kerwood also serves as city treasurer.
“I’m seeking a $16,000 increase in the total appropriation, and I’m confident based on my projections that the program will come in under that $146,000 — roughly $145,000," said Kerwood. "I would not — unless something dramatic changes — I shouldn’t say dramatic, it’s not really the right word. Unless something that I haven’t foreseen comes up between now and the end of the fiscal year, I believe this $146,000 will be sufficient.”
Kerwood answered a bevy of questions from Councilor Melissa Mazzeo on the city’s parking spending over the past fiscal year.
“You got a total expense for this timeframe is $100,000. So we brought in $199,000, but we paid $100,000. So we made $99,000, technically?” asked Mazzeo.
“At this point in time, there is $99,000 of revenue that exceeds the expenses to date," responded Kerwood.
The additional $16,000 would come from that $99,000 in parking revenue. Kerwood says it would allow the city to fund parking infrastructure, specifically improvements in the McKay Street parking garage. Monthly spending on coin retrieval also played a role in the increase, as did the fact that the city pays every usage fee on credit card and mobile app transactions — 12 cents on the card and 15 cents on the app. The app is called PittSMART, for Pittsfield Municipal Assistance Reporting Technology.
Mazzeo also voiced concerns over the 50 parking kiosks the city operates downtown. Pittsfield pays a $2,850 monthly service fee for the communication link between the kiosks and the company that built and runs them: New Jersey’s Parkeon.
“One of the things that I’m hearing about these machines is that they’re breaking down a lot, people go to use them and they’re not working and stuff," said Mazzeo. "So I guess what I’m saying is that we’re paying a substantial amount of money per month for the software, the credit card companies, things like that — then to find out when the motherboard goes we’re paying for that too — so those are the things that I would like to see more oversight on, because people are being somewhat forced to use these, and if they were easier to use and they weren’t breaking down and we were getting our bang for our buck I’d feel a little bit better.”
Kerwood noted the kiosks sat in a warehouse for a year after their 2015 purchase, making them behind the curve technologically from the beginning. He acknowledged their shortcomings and promised that the city’s Commissioner of Public Utilities David Turocy is aware of the issue.
“We understand that, we recognize that, and I know that Commissioner Turocy, who oversees the parking component and personnel associated with this, recognizes that and again we’re working through those issues the best we can," Kerwood said. "The thing that I can suggest — and I know that it happens — if there is an issue with a kiosk, that somebody needs to let us know, through PittSmart or whatnot — a traffic control officer — they need to make it know so we can address it.”
After a discussion on underperforming kiosk areas — namely, on the northern end of North Street by Carr Hardware — and opportunities to expand or refocus paid parking zones — with Wendell Ave and South Street mentioned — the council voted to accept the additional $16,000 in parking spending.
The city council unanimously accepted the parking system in September 2016, and kiosks went into full operation last year.
