TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Bruce Moe, Acting Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of Bagging of City Parking Meters During the Holiday Season to Encourage Local Shopping (Finance Director Moe).
APPROVE
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council: a) approve a three-week waiver of fees at all City parking meters, excluding the shared State Pier and El Porto (L.A. County) beach parking lots, from Wednesday, December 3, 2014, through Wednesday, December 24, 2014; and b) approve on-going meter bagging in future years for a three-week time frame during the holidays.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Based on existing parking meter rates, the estimated revenue loss to the City's Parking Fund for the recommended three-week period will be approximately $129,000 ($43,000 per week). This is the amount and time frame that was accommodated in the fiscal year 2014-2015 budget. If City Council authorizes a longer waiver period, Parking Fund revenues may underperform the budget for the year.
While the bagging of meters is a popular program with the residents and businesses, it is difficult to determine any corresponding financial benefit for the City since sales tax statistics are reported to the City on a quarterly (12 week) basis. However, additional sales of $12.9 million would need to be recorded in that time frame for the City to break even with the meter bagging costs.
BACKGROUND:
Covering the parking meters for the holidays has been a long-standing tradition in the City. The practice was not followed in 2009 and 2010 for financial reasons, but did resume in 2011 for a two-week period. For 2012, the City Council approved a four-week waiver, which was followed by a three week waiver for 2013.
DISCUSSION:
Staff is recommending a three-week waiver for this upcoming holiday season,...
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