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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

Parking meters still not paid off

Though parking meters in Bloomington have been generating revenue, they will not be payed in full for several years.

The city’s parking meters were a much-discussed issue at last week’s Bloomington City Council meeting when it was questioned how revenue from the meters would fit into Bloomington’s 2015 budget.

The parking meters, which were installed in 2013, have not yet been paid off and will not be paid in full for several years, as discussed at the meeting.

Mayor Mark Kruzan admitted at the meeting that it would be a while before the city will know when the parking meters will be paid in full.

When the revenue from the parking meters comes in, it will be split among a variety of recipients, City Controller Jeff Underwood said at the meeting.

“I can tell you on a general level that the revenue is split, as required by statute, into parking facilities and enforcement,” Underwood said. “Those revenue streams go to that particular department and fund the expenditures of that ?department.”

But this explanation was apparently not enough for District 3 Rep. Martin Spechler, who claimed it was unclear as to whether or not the city would be gaining anything from the parking meters.

“I think this kind of answer, this goes to this and this goes that, doesn’t help us much,” he said. “Are we a little on the plus or are we not? When you balance all of the revenues that come from our parking meters and facilities against the expenditures that are required for this year or next, do we come slightly ahead or not?”

Despite the fact that the meters have not yet been paid off, they are still generating some revenue for the city, along with a variety of other contributing sources.

Tom Micuda, the city’s planning and transportation department director, said in an email that “based on revenue thus far in 2014, the city is on track to have a total meter income of more than $2.3 million.”

Among these factors, Micuda said, are the costs of maintenance, operation and repair of the parking meters, and the cost of repairing and maintaining any of the public curbs and sidewalks where parking meters are in use.

Other sources for the revenue include the principal and interest on bonds used to acquire parking facilities and devices, the cost of improving and maintaining land for parking purposes and purchasing, installing and maintaining parking meters on that land.

“Having a parking meter fund dedicated to improving overall parking management as well as infrastructure does alleviate pressure on the city’s General Fund to provide for such expenses,” he said. “This makes it less likely that the City will have to either decrease levels of constituent service or raise revenue from other sources.”

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