The parking meters located in the Village of New Paltz are now in effect seven days per week, with Sundays as the newest addition.
The change in village law went into effect on Sunday, Sept. 23, people who chose to park in one of the metered parking spots, without pay, on this date and the following Sunday, were not ticketed. Instead, they were provided with a green sheet of paper to inform them of this change.
“I spoke with our parking enforcement officer, and she said that [it] went really well [the first] weekend,” said Tim Rogers, Mayor of New Paltz. “She said most people were just feeding the meters, paying the little 50 cents an hour, and a handful of folks were not aware of the change, so we handed out probably about 50 of those warning flyers.”
Those who park in one of these metered spots on Sundays, beginning Oct. 7, must pay the unchanged cost requirement per hour, or else they will be fined. The 27 handicap spaces in the village will remain free of charge every day.
There are 262 metered parking spots located in the village that cost 50 cents an hour, as well as around an additional 80 spots found in a parking lot on Plattekill Ave. There are also a handful of spots in front of the post office that cost 25 cents an hour. The use of these spots range between two and four hours maximum, depending on the area.
This change in law was adopted by the Village Board on Aug. 23, according to Nancy Branco, Village Treasurer of New Paltz.
“It’s not so much always about the revenue,” Branco said. “We get people complaining that there’s no parking in the village, and then we get people complaining about paying the meters, so to even it out we want to keep the parking moving.”
These parking meters increase revenue for village safety and other operations, which include fire protection, plow trucks, streetlight and street signs. According to a post on Mayor Tim Rogers’ Facebook page, parking meters have sourced an annual income of approximately $181,000 for the past four years, with these spots bringing in about $583 per day. This form of revenue is the second largest towards the main sum of $2.6 million sourced for the village’s most recent fiscal year.
While community members and visitors will now have to pay for an extra day of parking, the cost is not as much as in Kingston, where metered parking is $1 per hour (plus an additional 35 cents if a credit card is used to pay). Overtime tickets are $25 upfront and $50 after 15 days in Kingston. Conversly, the Village of New Paltz has changed their cost from $10 to $20 if paid within business five days, or $30 if paid more than five business days after being issued a ticket.
According to Rogers’ Facebook post, parking tickets and court revenue placed third in the category of the largest financial contributions towards the village’s overall revenue, totaling about $148,463.
“We try to work with everybody in the community,” Branco said. “We’re trying to take care of the business owners and we’re trying to take care of the community members. The reason behind all the parking in the village is to keep the parking open to people.”
