FREEHOLD – The Borough Council in Freehold Borough has introduced a bond ordinance to appropriate $150,000 for the purchase and installation of parking meter pay stations.
Council members introduced the bond ordinance on Feb. 4. The document authorizes the issuance of $142,500 in bonds and notes and includes a down payment of $7,500. The pay stations will be placed in parking lots that are owned by the borough, according to the ordinance.
A public hearing on the bond ordinance is scheduled for Feb. 19. The council may adopt the ordinance that evening.
The introduction of the bond ordinance follows the council’s establishment of a parking utility which will manage the town’s parking operations. According to borough officials, a parking utility is an enterprise from which a municipality anticipates it will receive fees, rents and/or other revenues.
According to the bond ordinance, the purchase and installation of parking meter pay stations in municipal owned parking lots are authorized as parking utility improvements.
Council President Kevin Kane and Councilman George Schnurr said the $150,000 appropriation begins the process of bringing metered parking to Freehold Borough.
Revenue raised from parking operations will be kept in a separate fund for accounting and budgetary purposes, according to borough officials.
Council members previously determined a public parking system would promote the public safety and welfare for residents and visitors and said it would be in the best interests of Freehold Borough to establish a parking utility to manage the parking operations.