Public parking could soon cost visitors to Saratoga Springs.
Democratic Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub is holding a public hearing Tuesday on the final draft of his long-awaited legislation he says would mean an additional revenue source for the city.
Visitors would pay $2 per hour to park between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Speaking with WAMC, Golub emphasized that street parking would remain free for everyone.
“Even just a pared-down program like that could raise a couple million dollars of new revenue which is really the driver of the ‘why’ behind why we’re doing this. The city continues to grow. Whether it’s the third fire station funding. Whether it’s build the homeless shelter. Whether it’s our infrastructure, our downtown corridor. There’s a lot of things we want to focus on moving forward to make sure our city continues to be a world-class destination,” said Golub.
Under the proposal, city residents and employees of downtown businesses could obtain free parking passes—and ticket forgiveness will be available to those eligible for a pass.
Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus is supportive of this final draft.
"I think it's important to note that nine months out of the year, so essentially from Labor Day in September to Memorial Day the following May every year, parking downtown everywhere in the garages, service lots, on street remains free for everyone," said Shimkus.
In a pre-agenda meeting Monday, Democratic Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi highlighted the fact that surrounding cities like Schenectady, Troy, and Albany have paid parking regardless of residency.
“Honestly, the fact that Commissioner Golub is creating a program that is only for seasonal, only for tourists is actually the right call for Saratoga Springs. And I think it’s long overdue, I agree,” said Sanghvi.
Golub says there are plans to extend free and discounted parking rates to residents of the Saratoga Springs City School District.
“Our neighbors in Wilton and Ballston Spa and other surrounding towns—they’re not the focus of our program. I think that’s absolutely right. So, this first summer we’re going to roll out the program, in the fall we’ll look at that and either come up with a reduced for our neighboring communities or some other similar program to reflect that,” said Golub.
According to the DPW, of the estimated $1.6 million in revenue from the program’s first year, more than $250,000 will be re-invested into the city.
The Woodlawn parking garage in the heart of downtown had long been a de-facto shelter for many unhoused city residents.
Golub says one of his priorities is funding initiatives to help them.
I think the revenue will provide us an opportunity to take a bigger swing as a community around the unhoused population and funding a long-term homeless shelter. That is one of the open questions around a shelter; how would we as a community fund that long-term? For me, there aren’t a lot of revenue sources where we can take big swings, where we can create new revenue without raising taxes within our community and this happens to be one of them,” said Golub.
The Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association did not respond to a request for comment Monday morning.
The hearing is 6 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall.
