(05-16-2016, 11:02 AM)Markster Wrote:I am fairly certain it is the case in waterloo, I believe they are looking to develop a model since a lot has changed since 2008 when they did their last study so for the time being they are kind of winging it.(05-16-2016, 10:31 AM)darts Wrote: As understand it for the city of waterloo at least, I'm not sure about the other ones, parking uses an enterprise model so it is on't supported through user fees and fines, and they pay for all the related expenses as well with those fees. As a result nothing from property taxes actually contributes to it.
I believe you're thinking of Kitchener.
5 years ago, they initiated a move towards a Parking Enterprise. They have initiated a gradual ramp up of parking prices to have it cover its own costs. I don't know if they're at cost-recovery yet. In 2014, it ran a $600K defect.
Waterloo has only just started looking into this concept 3 weeks ago:
Quote:This project has a transportation focus. It is centered around gathering data through updated studies, public engagement and a council workshop. This information will be used by city staff to develop a parking enterprise financial model.
edit: It doesn't say it explicitly but on page 17 it speaks about using the surpluses generated from parking to go into the parking reserves instead of going into general revenues and reducing the property taxes. http://www.waterloo.ca/en/contentresourc...y_2008.pdf
And from reading that it doesn't seem that they were entirely happy with the quality of the 2008 report and did almost none of the things described, it's probably good that they update it.