After working at Fresh Fields for several years, Maria Carr has seen her share of Arlington’s parking meters.
Carr, a resident of College Park, Md., makes the daily commute to the Arlington store, at 2700 Wilson Blvd. Up until last year, that meant finding parking on the street. "I got a lot of tickets," she admitted.
But she still dropped lots of quarters into parking meters, paying $6 to park for an eight-hour shift.
She was amazed when she found out the county was considering raising that sum to $8 a day. "What are they trying to do, not have any parking on the street? Where are the people who work here supposed to park?" Carr asked.
In the county budget proposed last week by County Manager Ron Carlee, Arlington would raise rates at the county’s 3,800 parking meters, raising $850,000 in increased revenues. The increase would raise projected fees to $4.1 million, about 1 percent of the total proposed $378.1 million county budget. The changes would also increase the number of meters that accept Metro Smartcards for parking fees.
At short-term meters, allowing parking for 30 minutes, one or two hours, parking now costs 75 cents for an hour – one hour costs three quarters, seven dimes and a nickel, or 15 nickels. About 67 percent of the county’s meters are short-term. Under the proposed new rates, an hour of parking would cost a dollar — four quarters, 10 dimes or 20 nickels — a 33-percent increase.
At long-term meters, which allow drivers to park for four hours or more, the cost of an hour would also rise, from 50 cents to 75 — a 50-percent increase. The proposal would also add to the 2,800 meters that currently accept Smartcards as parking fees.
<b>Nickel and Dime</b>
<bt>"That sounds like a reasonable increase," Jeanette McHale said. A Ballston resident, McHale drives to work, and usually parks on the street on weekends. "There’s a lot of growth in the area," she said.
Tim Wise, head of anti-tax group Arlington County Taxpayers Association, said he found increased rates at parking meters a palatable means of raising money for county government. It’s better than seeing an increase in property taxes, he said.
"If it’s a trade-off between [higher parking rates and] real estate taxes, given the tremendous increase in real-estate rates that Arlington homeowners are hit with this year?" Wise asked. "If forced to make that trade-off, I’ll go with raising parking rates."
But parking meters aren’t the only rising costs, Wise said, pointing to proposed increases in water, sewer and garbage pickup rates for county residents.
What Arlington really needs to do is cut down on programs, he said: "Spending is out of control. They have started so many programs, now they have to keep feeding the monster."
In exchange for the higher rates, he said, the county should also increase the number of spaces in the county. To encourage small business, he added, the county should make the first 15 minutes free. "If I’m just running in to get coffee, or pick up dry-cleaning, I hate to pay for a meter," Wise said.
The short-term rates could hit hardest, Wise said. "When I worked in Rosslyn, there were only two-hour meters around. A lot of employees had to go out every two hours and feed the meter," he said.
<b>Looking for Change</b>
<bt>Tom Ruggieri used to make those four trips a day, feeding a total of $6 in quarters into Rosslyn meters.
Parking outside the Market Commons this week, Ruggieri and Amy Fitzgerald were split on higher costs for on-street parking. "Nobody likes an increase," Fitzgerald said.
The two live in Arlington, and both work elsewhere – Fitzgerald in D.C., Ruggieri in Fairfax. But until recently, he was parking in Rosslyn, and he said the proposed rates weren’t too high.
"I don’t mind that, that seems like a reasonable increase," he said. "What I don’t like are the meters that only take quarters."
The County Board still hasn’t looked at the proposed parking-meter rates in detail, Board chair Chris Zimmerman said. "It’s going to take us a couple months to work through the budget," he said. "It’s still early to make any kind of judgments about anything."
But he said he would be curious to see the pros and cons for raising the price of parking in Arlington. "I’ll be interested in the arguments for and against, the benefits of this vs. something else we could do," Zimmerman said. "At this point, it’s one of many proposals we are taking under consideration."
Carr, standing next to her car outside Fresh Fields, had a suggestion for Arlington’s government. "If they’re looking for revenue, these meters are broken all the time," she said, pointing along Wilson as cars pulled in and out of spaces.