PORT ANGELES — Parking too long downtown, or in the wrong place, will now cost commuters more than twice as much.
The City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to change the penalty for violating two-hour parking limits from $10 to $25 and the penalty for parking in no-parking zones from $20 to $40.
Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton and City Council members Don Perry and Cherie Kidd voted no out of support for increasing time limits to three hours, or at least further consideration of doing so.
“My thought is if we are going to increase it, we should give them another hour,” Perry said on Wednesday.
Wharton and Kidd said the Port Angeles Downtown Association is against increasing the parking fines.
Police Chief Terry Gallagher said in a memo to the City Council that the city’s parking enforcement program costs $40,000 a year.
In 2007, the city received $28,204 in parking-fines revenue.
“It is worth considering that absent the need for downtown parking enforcement, there would be no need for the parking enforcement officer position,” he said.
Gallagher also said in the memo that increasing the fines would reduce violations and help downtown become more “self-supporting” in parking enforcement.
The City Council also unanimously approved a contract with Clallam County for use of the county jail during 2009 for holding suspects arrested by the Port Angeles Police Department.
The cost is $67 a day for each person.
The city budgeted $400,000 for jail costs in 2009, which is a 14 percent increase over 2008.
The increase is partly due to a new daily rate added by the county to cover medical expenses, which are anticipated to cost $15,000 a year.
The city estimates the jail costs will remain within or below budget.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
