To the distress of some area businesses, the East Lansing City Council will hike up parking prices to balance its newly adopted $49.95 million budget.
The increase in parking fees was part of the 2003 budget the council passed Tuesday night.
Stan Blanchard, manager of Chicken Heads, 543 E. Grand River Ave., said high prices are already limiting his clientele strictly to walk-in students.
“Who wants to pay a dollar an hour to park, or a $1.20 now?” Blanchard asked of the proposed 10 cent per half hour increase. “They might as well go somewhere else and park for free.”
Councilmember Beverly Baten said the suggested the increase would only apply to the nighttime, specifically after 8 p.m.
“Most shops, except for maybe the bookstores, are closed at about 8,” Baten said. We don’t want to interfere with shopping.
“It’s really a nickel-and-dime type thing. It’s not going to be a gouge.”
Councilmember Bill Sharp said upping parking fees would bring in an estimated $80,000, some of which would go to the city and some to parking garage maintenance.
“I don’t think we’ll see any reduction in parking, we’ll just see an increase in revenue,” Sharp said.
The overall budget is down 3.6 percent from last year’s. And although the city’s tax rate will remain the same, sewer rates are set to go up 4.1 percent and water rates were increased by 9.3 percent.
Baten said she also believes East Lansing should look into capitalizing on MSU football Saturdays.
“I was shocked to find that people are only paying $5 for four-hour parking,” she said. “We need to be aware of that revenue.”
Baten suggested the city set aside a certain lot for long-term parking on those days.
Sharp said the details for the proposed increases still need to be worked out, but he expects the plan will be finalized in the next week or so, about a month before the fiscal year begins on July 1.
Blanchard contends the current parking prices are competitive with Washington, D.C. and other large cities, not those of East Lansing’s size.
“I’ve even seen places in Chicago that are cheaper to park at than here,” he said. “All I’m asking is if you see me out on the street, throw a nickel in my tin cup.”
Katie Byrne can be reached at byrnecat@msu.edu.
