Hamilton parking fee, fine hike could help reduce tax rate increase

City of Hamilton councillors have approved parking fee and violation fine increases that could put some serious coin in city coffers and relieve some of the tax burden on residents.

City of Hamilton councillors have approved parking fee and violation fine increases that could put some serious coin in city coffers and relieve some of the tax burden on residents.

Members of the General Issues Committee approved a staff report outlining the impact the increase fees and fines will have at Monday’s (March 2) budget meeting.

If on-street parking meter fees go up by 25 cents, the report says that will increase revenue by $280,000; a 50 cent increase will generate $560,000 in additional revenues.

The last time on-street parking meter fees were upped was in 2017 when they went from $1 an hour to $1.50 an hour.

In November, the City’s Planning Committee was presented with a report comparing Hamilton’s parking rate to that of comparable Canadian municipalities.

The report pointed out that Hamilton was well below most municipalities in parking fees. The average among comparable cities was $2.02 for on-street parking.

Members of the Planning Committee back in November asked staff to reach out the Hamilton’s Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) to get their feedback on the prospect of parking rate increases, particularly as it relates to on-street metered parking.

Out of 13 of Hamilton’s BIAs, just three responded to the request for input. The consensus among those, this week’s staff report found, was that they were opposed to the hike but could get behind it if the city implemented a mobile app for Pay-by-Phone parking.

The city is expecting to implement just such an app later this year.

The report in front of the GIC this week also highlighted the revenue increases if parking violation fines were upped by between $1 and $5. Additional revenue was pegged at close to $400,000.

The report also looks at a $5 to $10 increase for monthly permit fees. If they’re upped by $10, that is estimated to generate an annual increase in revenue of $306,000. An increase of $5.00 per month is estimated to generate an increase of $153,000.

At Monday’s meeting, the City’s GM of Corporate Services, Mike Zagarac, said is all of the parking fines and fees increases are approved, which would add close to $1 million to city coffers, it could lead to a reduction in Hamilton’s average tax increase — from 3.2 per cent to 2.9 per cent.

Members of the GIC voted to approve the parking rate increases at the meeting.

Photo courtesy Daiju Azuma via Flickr.