It’s that time of year again.
Trees and flowers are blooming, the Azalea Festival is right around the corner and paid parking returns to Wrightsville Beach on Sunday.
As Wrightsville Beach residents begin their annual search for the six quarters, dollar bills and credit cards they’ll need to feed the town’s 700-plus meters and 27 pay stations from March 1 to Oct. 31, town officials look forward to the resultant revenues, which account for approximately 17 percent of the town’s annual budget. That budget, while servicing the year-round residents, must also take into account the added services and needs of a population that, during the summer months, swells from 2,600 to 40,000.
“That,” said town manager Bob Simpson, “is the reason we have
parking fees.”
According to Simpson, one clear demonstration of
Staff photo by Joshua Curry
The 2009 Wrightsville Beach residential parking passes are available at the Wrightsville Beach Parking office on Live Oak Drive. Beginning Sunday, March 1, beachgoers must pay for parking. |
the increased demand on the town’s services in the summer months can be found in the area of emergency services.
“Just read the 911 reports after a (summer) weekend,” he said. “We can’t expect taxpayers to absorb the cost of people who come here to visit.”
The fiscal year budgeting process, which stretches over two calendar years (from one July to the next), straddles two summer seasons; the end of one and the beginning of another. In the 2007-08 fiscal year, which ended last July, all those quarters, dollar bills and credit cards brought in $1.5 million dollars. Compliance revenues (the amount realized from the meters and pay stations) far outstripped non-compliance revenues, represented by parking tickets and their consequent fines. Of that $1.5 million, just over 15 percent of it ($227,000) resulted from the payment of fines.
The $1.5 million was $100,000 more than the town realized in fiscal year 2006-07, and while certain obvious economic variables may be in play as the summer of ’09 approaches, the town has already realized $627,000 from the meters in operation from last July to October.
“Last year was a really good year,” said town finance director Peggy Jones. “As I recall, most weekends had really good beach weather.”
There is some question as to how, exactly, the current economic crisis will affect the meter revenues this summer.
“It’s anybody’s best guess,” said the town’s new parking manager, Bryant Sykes, who assumed the position last month. “We’ve theorized that we’ll see higher revenues as people stay closer to home.
“But it might be the opposite,” he added. “People might not travel outside of their own backyard barbecue this year.”
The town has yet to purchase a pair of ATVs, which was approved in the most recent budget.
“We’re still looking into whether that’s the right road to take,” said Sykes. “We’re weighing our options, looking for a lasting useable solution at the most affordable price.”
According to Sykes, while there’s nothing new to relate about the enforcement protocols, there will be evidence of increased signage and stickers throughout the town, conveying the periods of enforcement clearly, as well as the telephone number of the parking office. As always, information regarding resident parking passes ($25) and commercial passes ($290) is available on the town Web site (www.townofwrightsvillebeach.com) under the “Parking” tab. Passes can be purchased at the parking office at 5 Live Oak Drive.
It should be noted that temptations to either increase the fees or expand the meters have been more or less rejected by town officials — at this point, they stress.
“They’re pretty sensitive about that,” said Simpson of the town’s board of aldermen. “In our workshops, that was not an issue that they wanted to proceed on, so we don’t anticipate expanding the meter program or raising the cost in the immediate future.
“But,” he added, as a cautionary note, “you never can tell.”
