Saratoga Springs' paid parking program is set to return for a second summer. The program is actually expanding despite previous pledges by the public works commissioner to eliminate it.
Last summer, the city’s novel paid parking program generated $244,000 after one-time installation costs and an abbreviated window of operation. This year it’s budgeted to make $465,000 while running from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Non-residents are charged $2 per hour to park in city owned lots. Street parking will remain free.
Residents can apply for a free parking pass. At last week’s city council meeting, Republican Public Works Commissioner Chuck Marshall expanded the program.
“There will be a seasonal pass available to school district residents. It was originally contemplated in the adoption of the paid parking program and I just brought it forward for consideration. That seasonal pass is $100, and there are monthly passes built in for $35 for June $45 for July, or $55 for August,” said Marshall.
Temporary passes will also be available to contractors and volunteers who need to park downtown.
Marshall won a contested January special election for his seat on the five-person city council on a platform that, in part, centered the elimination of paid parking.
Marshall tells WAMC that while he still disagrees with the program, he alone is incapable of nixing it.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding on my ability to eliminate the program. This is adopted by the council and would need to be rejected by the council. I don’t have unilateral control. So, this is one of the modifications that I brough forward. Ultimately, depending on how the year goes we’re going to reevaluate but this is going to be the first year where we can collect data and see where the dollars and implementation land,” said Marshall.
There’s been a recent focus on increasing the city's revenue streams, like cannabis tax collection, and Democratic Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi says the parking program’s expansion is a good sign for the city.
“Last year if you see because of confusion about the process, the rollout was problematic in some ways. So, we really just got one month’s worth of revenue and this year we’re ready to start from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We’ve got Belmont coming up, last year we were not able to capture Belmont revenues. This year we have the July racing festival as well. So, we see a real opportunity to have a robust paid parking program,” said Sanghvi.
Saratoga Race Course will have a record 49 days of racing with the return of the Belmont Stakes and a July 4th racing festival.
Sanghvi says she’s happy to re-adjust the program after this season.
“I’m really glad that conversations with Chuck Marshall have been so productive. He understands the need for paid parking. He understands—it may not be popular with some folks, but if you poll overall Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Springs residents like paid parking. In fact, they often look forward to the summertime when they will get spaces in the garages because they know that all other previous times before paid parking was in place those garages would be full and they wouldn’t find spaces,” said Sanghvi.
Some in the city feel betrayed by the apparent reversal.
Steve Mittler runs Mittler’s Market on Phila Street. The small bodega and café is steps away from a two-story parking lot.
“I think it’s terrible. Chuck Marshall, I voted for him because he ran on the fact that he was going to peel back paid parking. He hasn’t mentioned it since he took office other than he would look at it. So, it’s very, very disappointing,” said Mittler.
If the program is here to stay, however, Mittler wants to see better communication from the city.
“I think it’s confusing. Customers come in and they don’t know if they’re supposed to pay, when they’re supposed to pay. Launching it with the public library at the same time has caused confusion as well. You’ve got administrators over there that have one plan and you’ve got paid parking in the garages. You know I think the hard part for the public is they hear ‘’paid parking in Saratoga,’ and that’s it. So, now the entire city is presumed to be paid parking. And, obviously, we know that’s not the case, but that’s not what people hear,” said Mittler.
The public library, just down the street from Mittler’s store, enacted limited parking lot access to library card holders year-round between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m starting in November.
