Revere council could set stage for parking fee hikes

REVERE – The City Council could set the stage for parking meter and ticket rate hikes next Monday with the transfer of its last remaining authority over parking fees to the city Traffic Commission.If the transfer is approved, City Clerk John Henry, acting in his dual role as city parking clerk, would conduct a feasibility study of fee hikes and present the results to the commission before it approved increases.Pressure to increase fees grew last month when Mayor Thomas Ambrosino announced a dozen layoffs and City Hall hours reductions in response to reductions in state aid to the city. He warned councilors the city faces steeper state cuts in the spending year that starts July 1 and said the city will have to trim its budget accordingly.Tapping parking fees provides additional revenue: Ward 4 Councilor George Rotondo estimates hiking the parking meter rate from a quarter for one half hour to a quarter for 15 minutes could generate an additional $2,000 to $2,500 a week.Henry on Thursday said city parking tickets range between $10 and $15, adding, “We’re low compared to other cities and towns.”Ambrosino asked the council last month to transfer authority over parking fees to the Traffic Commission. Except for fees, most local concerns involving parking were placed under the commission in 1983.The council ways and means and legislative affairs committees are reviewing the transfer and their members may make a recommendation to the council Monday.Ambrosino and the council are looking to a couple of other sources of money for the city. The mayor wants the city to continue receiving a rental car surcharge even after the state completes a new rental car facility at Logan Airport.Under state plans, rental car companies located on the Revere side of Lee Burbank Highway would relocate to Logan, but, if Ambrosino has his way, the companies will charge a $10 fee on rental contracts with the fee passed on to the city. The city uses surcharge money to pay off debt associated with building the $20.2 million Revere Beach Parkway police station.Ambrosino is also looking at how much money the city can raise from reuse of the former police station site and Walden Street and Beachmont stations. In 2007, he proposed selling the Pleasant Street police station to a developer and tearing down the station garage to provide additional City Hall parking.His newer review values the building at $575,000 and recommends advertising it for lease as office space with the selected developer renovating the building. He recommends selling the fire stations for $530,000 for reuse as residences or senior housing.