AMHERST — For a while last spring, visitors to downtown Amherst received the luxury of free parking, and no risk of getting a ticket, while a pay-by-space machine was broken.
For Amherst finances, though, the extended absence of a functioning kiosk in the town-owned portion of the CVS Pharmacy parking lot meant a significant dip in revenue from parking fees and parking tickets, causing a nearly $100,000 deficit in the amount projected for the transportation fund.
This loss of nearly 10 percent in revenue to the enterprise account, which pays for salaries of enforcement officers and an assessment for outreach routes for UMass Transit, as well as improvements to parking lots, was presented to the Selectboard by Sonia Aldrich, the comptroller and co-interim finance director, last week.
According to the report for the fiscal year ending June 30, the transportation fund revenues came in at just $904,967, which is $98,783 below the $1 million projected in the budget. The actual deficit was reduced to $88,236 because of money that was returned to the fund that wasn’t spent during the year.
Aldrich’s report stated that the “retained earning” balance, or free cash, in the transportation fund, would cover this entire shortfall.
Select Board member Alisa Brewer expressed concern that a faulty parking machine was allowed to linger.
“It’s a lot of money we’re losing,” Brewer said.
Brewer asked Town Manager Paul Bockelman why the Selectboard didn’t learn about the problem earlier and get information about the consequences.
Interim co-finance director Claire McGinnis, who oversees the town’s parking system, said any time a parking meter or machine is not working it costs the town revenue twice, since people can’t deposit coins into it or swipe credit cards, and enforcement can’t be done for violators.
The current pay-by-space machines, purchased at a cost of $100,000, were installed in summer 2011. This eliminated the pay-and-display machines, in which customers had to return to their vehicles with receipts and place them on the dashboards.
But right from the start they haven’t always worked properly. McGinnis said challenges have increased as the company from which they were purchased no longer services the machines, and spare parts have had to be purchased through eBay and Craigslist.
With the town getting new parking machines this fall, this problem with broken kiosks should be corrected.
The machines slated to be replaced are used at the Boltwood parking garage, and in the Main Street, Amity Street and Spring Street lots, as well as the lots behind the CVS Pharmacy and the Town Hall.
The average space in the CVS lot, which has 70 spots, normally collects $634 a year, based on fiscal 2016, below the $1,112 per space in the most popular lot, the upper level of Boltwood parking garage, and the $909 per space collected in the Amity Street lot and the $900 per space brought in from the Main Street lot.
But the CVS lot takes in more per space than the $604 in the Spring Street lot, the $591 for a typical street meter and the $424 for the lower level of the parking garage.
Based on the fiscal 2017 operating budget, the transportation fund includes $465,000 in parking meter fees, $275,000 in parking violations and $145,000 in parking fines. Projections this year are similar, with a $14,000 increase in meter fees.
The year-end report from Aldrich showed that sewer, water and solid waste enterprise funds all ended with surpluses.
The general fund budget, $75.44 million, included a $1.86 million surplus, meaning the town brought in more revenues than expected and departments spent below their budgeted levels, often by not filling vacancies.