Committee reduces
monthly parking fees

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The City Council's Budget Committee approved a bill yesterday that would roll back monthly parking charges at downtown municipal garages to what they were before the Council raised them earlier this year.

The bill affects attendant lots at Alii Place, Harbor Court, Marin Tower, Kukui Plaza, Hale Pauahi, Harbor Village, Chinatown Gateway and Kekaulike Courtyards.

The rates currently run between $135 and $235, and the bill would bring the monthly charges down to between $90 and $155.

The measure also requires that no increased fees shall be collected until the city posts signs for 90 days notifying tenants of the monthly increase.

In June the Council approved a 50 percent hike in parking rates, which was expected to bring in $2.3 million more in revenue to balance the city's $1.22 billion operating budget. It will take the city time to put the increase into effect for on-street parking meters.

Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration is opposed to the rollback bill, saying it would mean $630,000 less in revenue.

"The bill is illegal because the money that was generated from the fee increases were placed in the budget," Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan said. "So you have a balanced budget based in part on those revenues, and you can't go back retroactively, because that's what that bill does."

Only monthly charges are affected; hourly rates will not change.

The bill now goes on to the Council for a public hearing.