Council addressing parking fund deficit

ROSEBURG, Ore. – The Roseburg City Council indicated Monday they’re moving away from the idea of adding a citywide fee on all water meter bills to partially fund a parking program downtown and in the Laurelwood neighborhood.

Several City Councilors and Mayor Larry Rich said at a parking work study session held Monday afternoon at City Hall they’ve heard from many residents who don’t want a new fee added to water bills to help support downtown and Laurelwood parking.

“Everyone that approached me is very against having a fee tacked onto their water bill for downtown parking,” Ward One Councilor Kylee Rummel said. “They feel they shouldn’t have to pay for something when it doesn’t directly impact them. They think that the businesses should be paying for it, as well as consumers. You know, if you go downtown, you should be willing to pay to go downtown to park there.”

People who walk, or don’t go downtown, don’t want to pay for someone else to park downtown, said Ward Two Councilor Andrea Zielinski, adding that it makes more sense for people who drive downtown to pay to park there.

“I’m in agreement: I don’t think it should be a citywide fee,” said Councilor Andrea Zielinski. “I don’t think that the burden should be citywide – definitely not outside the city limits. I just don’t think that’s the right approach to this. It makes people kind of angry….”

On behalf of residents in Ward Three, Councilor Tom Michalek also opposed a citywide fee.

“I heard the same thing from my constituents – that they don’t want to pay for downtown parking, because a lot of them, they never come downtown. And they’re pretty adamant about it,” he said.

Downtown Roseburg currently offers a mix of free, time-limited on- and off-street parking; metered parking; and monthly permits for parking lots and the Downtown Parking Garage’s levels 2 and 3. Free time-limited spots have been available on Downtown Parking Garage Level 1, Rose Parking Lot, Jackson Street, Main Street and several cross streets.

Parking enforcement resumed in April 2022 following extensive community input and development of the Downtown Parking Assessment and Plan in 2020 and 2021. ACE Parking was hired for parking enforcement services after a previous contract with the Downtown Roseburg Association/Park Smart was cancelled.

The parking plan called for changes that would benefit residents and businesses by freeing up more on-street parking spaces for short-term customer parking downtown and by helping to prevent high school overflow parking in the Laurelwood neighborhood.

Roseburg has continued working to build a consensus on downtown parking issues. When Roseburg went without parking enforcement, City staff were inundated with complaints from business owners angered by other business owners or their employees parking in front of a neighbor’s business all day.

Businesses outside downtown that provide customer and employee parking pay about $20 per month per parking space, just as there are real costs associated with maintaining on- and off-street parking downtown.

“ 'Free' parking is not free,” City Manager Nikki Messenger told the Council.

The “Off-Street Parking Fund,” which supports off- and on-street parking, is an enterprise fund intended to operate without support from the City’s general fund. However, as Roseburg recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, the parking program fund has operated at a deficit that has led to the Council authorizing about $350,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding and $20,000 in general funds to cover that deficit, plus roughly $100,000 in ARPA funds for downtown parking garage security and cleaning.

Late last year, the Council had expressed support for a hybrid model to finance the program, which supports enforcement plus maintenance and security of parking meters, lots and the Downtown Parking Garage.

Projected total costs for the parking program for fiscal year 2024/2025 are $331,043. Projected revenue is $125,588, which would leave a projected deficit of $205,455 that the City Council is trying to decide how to cover. Residents can learn more about program costs, revenues and deficits in the work study session agenda: https://shorturl.at/Lamhp

The Council asked City staff to research options for three possible scenarios where the cost of parking – which includes security and maintenance for the downtown parking garage, and permits and enforcement downtown and in the Laurelwood neighborhood – would be paid for by drivers parking in both areas, businesses and/or property owners.

On Monday, City staff were asked to bring back more detailed information involving costs being divided among drivers and downtown businesses and/or property owners under three scenarios: a 65%/35% split, 70%/30% split or a 75%/25% split. The majority of the cost – or possibly 65 to 75 percent – would be paid by drivers through a combination of permits, meter/hourly payments and parking ticket fines.

Mayor Larry Rich agreed such a division made sense. Downtown businesses should bear part of the cost, he said.

“To me, if you’re a business owner or property owner downtown, you should be paying something for parking,” said Rich. “Any other place in town, you would be maintaining your own parking lot. You would be held accountable for it.”

At least one Councilor also indicated they’d like Roseburg to explore the possibility of a downtown business improvement district.

Watch the meeting video on facebook.com/cityofroseburg or via the City website at https://bit.ly/3vPEoN7.