MORGANTOWN — A proposed 20-fold increase in the cost of visitor permits for the city’s blue-curb parking districts — from $5 to $100 — appears to have been booted.
In its place, Morgantown City Council will consider making both permanent and visitor passes a standard $20 when it meets on May 1.
Blue-curb parking in Morgantown dates back to the ’90s, when curbs in South Park received a coat of blue paint, signifying those sections of on-street parking as reserved for permit holders.
The change in permit costs is part of the city’s effort to standardize how future parking districts are formed. The proposed law would not alter the size or regulations of the city’s nine existing parking districts as that would require amendments to the specific ordinances creating each district.
But it would alter the cost of permits available within existing and future districts.
According to the proposed law, residents within blue curb districts will have the option of purchasing three resident permits or two resident permits and one visitor permit — each $20 annually.
Currently, the first resident permit is $5 and each additional resident permit is $10. Visitor passes are currently $5. The initial amendments proposed would have bumped resident permits to $20 and visitor permits to $100.
Morgantown Parking Authority (MPA) Executive Director Dana McKenzie recently told members of council that the authority issues, on average, about 3,069 permits annually, generating an average of $25,077. Additionally, the MPA collects approximately $52,141 from tickets issued to violators.
The problem with the existing permit fees, McKenzie said, is that they don’t cover the cost of enforcement, which he put at roughly $100,000 annually.
McKenzie said visitor permits are where the bulk of the MPA’s issues arise.
“The most complaints that we receive in our office has to do with abuse of the visitor’s passes. We really have a hard time with two enforcement officers really keeping on top of and regulating that the way the ordinance is currently written,” McKenzie said, explaining that abuse of a visitor permit comes with a $50 fine, but is difficult to enforce. “To be honest with you, a lot of it is done, currently, on a complaint basis.”
He said the MPA is aware of at least 20 visitor passes being used daily by residents of the respective districts. Simply taking the permits won’t really address the problem, he said, adding that visitor permits are also commonly reported stolen, sold or given away.
McKenzie told council that the MPA hopes to combat permit issues by implementing better technology, potentially starting in the next fiscal year.
For an initial investment of roughly $80,000 — including $54,995 for the system and $25,000 for a vehicle large enough to mount it in — the MPA could incorporate license plate recognition into its enforcement efforts.
Instead of a physical sticker or hang tag, a registered vehicle’s license plate would be entered into a database.
“We would just register your license plate and then as the enforcement officers go through the neighborhoods, this recognition system, utilizing cameras in the [MPA] car, lets us know if the vehicles are supposed to be there or not,” McKenzie said, noting the system would also require an annual support fee of $10,640.
It was explained that adoption of the $20 permit charge — when added to the average annual citation revenue — would generate just over $122,000 for the MPA.
While the increased revenue would make the system more self-sustaining, it’s not the point of the changes, McKenzie said.
“As the authority, our goal, which is going to sound silly to most, is to write fewer citations. It’s more about compliance than writing citations,” McKenzie said.
