From: The Wildwood Leader

Parking Rates to Increase in Wildwood

Written by Christie RotondoThursday, February 21, 2013 07:00 am

Less time for your quarter 

WILDWOOD- While visitors won’t have to worry about paying for a beach tag this summer, they will see an increase in how much they are paying for parking.

On Feb. 13, commissioner’s agreed that a quarter will get you 7 ½ minutes at the parking meter. Last year, a quarter put 10 minutes on the meter. That means it will be $2 per hour to park in the city for the 2013 season.

Commissioner Tony Leonetti, who oversees parking in the city as commissioner of public affairs and public safety, said the increase in the cost of parking was passed so the city would be consistent with parking costs in neighboring North Wildwood.

“Everyone is thinking to be the same, this way everyone is consistent,” Leonetti said.

Last year, Leonetti said that the city brought in $620,000 from parking. With the increased costs, he said that revenue should go up by $50,000 in 2013.

That extra money will be used to pay for new meters which will be able to process credit cards, , Leonetti said.

He said the city is looking at three potential contracts, so he could not give specifics on how much the new meters would cost. However, he did say that each offered a trial period- which would allow the new meters to be installed for the 2013 season for free. After that, the potential contracts could allow for the meters to be rented to the city instead of purchased, Leonetti added.

“There’s no maintenance cost, except for if a meter needs a battery replaced, if we went into a rental program,” he said.

Leonetti said the city spends about $50 per meter annually for repairs. He estimated that there are about 1,600 meters in the city, so about $80,000 is spent annually to repair the city’s meters.

In January, the city heard a presentation from DEVO and Associates on bringing parking kiosks to the city. North Wildwood uses kiosks from that company. Instead of meters at every parking space, kiosks would accept payment on street corners and in other locations. There, visitors could pay with cash, coins, or a credit card.

Leonetti said that while the kiosks have been successful in bringing North Wildwood’s parking revenue to about $850,000 annually, the concept would not work in the city. Unlike North Wildwood, Wildwood doesn’t have as many open spaces to put the kiosks, Leonetti said, so they would need to install one or two on every block where there is street parking. With the cost of the kiosks ranging from $7,000 to $13,000, Leonetti said it would be too expensive for them to be installed.

Commissioners also said that because North Wildwood has fewer commercial parking lots than Wildwood, that city sees more revenue from parking  meters. There are 19 private commercial lots in Wildwood, Leonetti said, while North Wildwood only has one or two.

Parking meters are in effect May 15 until Oct. 31.

Christie Rotondo can be emailed at christie.rotondo@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story at www.wildwood.shorenewstoday.com.