NORTHAMPTON — The City Council is expected to vote Thursday on the first increase in the hourly rate at the E.J. Gare Parking Garage in 19 years.
If approved, the garage’s parking rates will rise from 50 cents to 75 cents an hour. The first hour of parking in the garage will still be free, according to the proposal.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz said the increase is related to upgrades at the garage, specifically credit cards transactions. Credit card transactions cost the city about 25 cents per transaction and credit cards are used in 44 percent of the transactions in the garage, according to a memo from the mayor to the City Council.
“It’s having a serious impact on the revenue in the garage,” Narkewicz said.
The mayor said the proposed increase would help to offset these credit card fees. He also wrote in his memo to the council that the increase would raise more than $200,000 in revenue.
The council’s Legislative Matters subcommittee met Tuesday and unanimously recommended the increase for approval by the full council.
At the subcommittee meeting, Northampton City Solicitor Alan Seewald expressed the opinion that the mayor did not have to seek approval from the council to raise the rates.
“It’s as valid as if he did it on his own,” said Seewald, on the mayor signing off on the council raising parking rates in the garage.
City Councilor At-Large William Dwight said that, even with the increase, parking in the garage is, “Cheaper than anywhere else you’re going to find. Even at 75 cents.”
The last increase in price at the garage was in 1999, when the rate was raised from 30 cents an hour to 50 cents an hour. In 2005, the first hour of parking in the garage became free.
The councilors also mentioned the impact of the late William A. Letendre, the parking director under former mayor Clare Higgins. Letendre was responsible for the installation of a parking garage sign that reads: “Where the coffee is strong and so are the women … and the first hour in the garage is always free.”
Letendre died on Nov. 7 and was credited with making the garage what it is today, councilors said at Tuesday’s subcommittee meeting.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.