By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer
RED BANK — Members of the borough council say they have found a solution in order to ease a tax increase in this year’s budget — an increase in the parking rates.
“We know this is a topic of great concern to the business community, but also to all of Red Bank,” said Linda Schwabenbauer, chair of the borough’s Finance Committee, at the borough council’s May 11 meeting. The meeting was well attended by business owners who were hoping to change the council’s mind on increasing parking rates.
Monies collected from the increased parking rates would be used to soften the tax impact on residents and commercial business owners as the preliminary budget has taxes increasing by more than $100 on a property assessed at the borough average of $354,497.
Starting after July, parking fees for street-metered parking is set to increase to $1.50 from $1, and borough parking lots to $1 an hour from 50 cents.
Parking permits in the borough would also increase. Currently, a 30-day parking permit costs $135, a three-month permit costs $200 and a six-month permit costs $400. If the ordinance passes, costs would increase to $180, $275 and $500, respectively.
The first reading of the ordinance originally had a two-hour minimum for borough parking lots, but a motion was made to remove it from the ordinance.
The ordinance, up for a second reading, ended up passing 4-2 with Council President Cindy Burnham and Councilman Ed Zipprich voting in the minority.
Business owners spoke before the ordinance was passed to reject the ordinance because of the potential harm it could have.
“I still think you are making a mistake tonight if you approve the ordinance to approve the rates. … [The parking fee increases] are not insults to me, but insults to the customers who we hope to bring to Red Bank,” said Jay Herman, a principal of Downtown Investors, LLC as well as an executive member of the Red Bank RiverCenter Board of Trustees.
“I have a really big problem with the council trying to balance a budget on parking meters. It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Barbara Boas, a resident of the borough.
Councilman Mark Taylor, who took office in January, implicated previous councils as doing little to fix underlying problems with the borough’s parking as well as fiscal standing, which led to this moment.
“Previous iterations of this council were rather lackadaisical in their commitment to the residents and to our business community. They were complacent, and in my opinion, irresponsibly allowed the status quo to be maintained and continue on for far too long,” he said.
He also went on to affirm the borough’s need for a parking garage in order to help with what many see as a lack of parking in the borough.
“At the last meeting, the mayor was very delicate in his word choice about our next steps. I’ll be a little bit more blunt — we need a parking garage. It has to happen. Our town will suffer the death of a thousand cuts if we do not address our parking inventory,” Taylor said.
During the discussion on the ordinance, council members expressed interest in attaching a sunset clause, mandating that parking fees would go back to normal when the council voted to approve a parking garage.
“The intent is to demonstrate a commitment to the parking garage and demonstrate that we are listening to the business community,” Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer said.
The ordinance was opposed by Council President Cindy Burnham and Councilman Ed Zipprich, who both criticized the lack of notification of an alteration to the ordinance.
“Being on the Parking Committee with Zipprich we have been totally out of the loop. No one told us we were going to drop the two-hour minimum,” Burnham said, who stated she only learned about the change earlier in the day.
According to Councilman Michael Whelan, the decision to try to remove the two-hour minimum came after spending the past few days, leading up to the council meeting, speaking with the business community.
“Over the last 48 hours, with the business community going back and forth, this is the card we are being dealt. We are taking public input, business community input and this is what we think the best decision is,” he said.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].