The various parking “experiments” Gettysburg Borough has been running over the past three years have ended and the borough has returned, at least for now, to the standard meters that have been around for decades.
The experiments included installing parking kiosks on the Gettysburg Square that allowed people to pay with credit cards and were designed for people who do not like to pay with quarters.
“The younger generation is used to technology. They don’t want to carry coins,” said Borough Parking Manager Becka Fissel. “It’s a retirement community,” said Fissel, noting the older generation was less positive about the kiosks than were younger users.
Although the kiosks are being removed, the Passport parking app is still available on all Gettysburg meters. “The app is used a lot. Its usage went up by 50 percent from 2018 to 2019,” said Fissel.
The parking app allows users to pay using their smart phones or by calling a toll-free number. “You don’t need to have a smartphone,” said Fissel.
Fissel said the borough had also considered installing smart meters that would accept credit cards at each of the borough’s parking spaces, but the cost was prohibitive. Fissel said smart meters are expensive because each meter has to have its own internet connection.
“Some towns have bought the new meters but then gone back to the old ones,” said Fissel. But “eventually these meters will be obsolete. They’re 20 years old,” she added.
“We’re waiting to see what we should do. We’re considering options,” said Fissel.
Fissel also reminded parkers that there is no longer a grace period on any of the borough meters.
In another parking-related news, Borough Manager Charles Gable said the borough collected about $1.2 million in parking fees last year.
These funds allow the borough to keep running smoothly, including “paving streets, street sweeping, police protection, snow removal, code enforcement, and paying streetlight bills,” said Gable.
The money “is used to help offset tax increases. If the borough did not make this kind of money off parking, taxes would need to be increased by at least 2 mills. Some people argue that parking should be free. That is fine if they are willing to absorb a huge tax increase to support free parking,” said Gable.
Gable said the total parking fees amounted to about one-fourth of the borough’s $5 million annual budget.
According to Gable, about half of the 1.2 million collected came from meters on Gettysburg streets, with the rest from county parking lots, the parking garage, and long-term parking passes.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.