Hi Hawkeyes!
If you find yourself returning to Iowa City surprised by the raise in parking rates, fees, and penalties by the city, you’re not the only one!
The City of Iowa City has just raised its parking rates for the first time in eleven years. Unarguably, this creates a bigger strain on our budgets and affects disproportionately students, service workers, and differently-abled folks.
USG’s Governmental Relations team met with the City Manager’s Office to provide students with information about the raises.
- The parking and transit funds are called “enterprise funds”, which means that when the city raises parking rates, those funds stay within the sector in which they were administered. Additional revenue from the increase will fund projects and maintenance within our transportation sector (In other words, we cannot collect parking meter revenue and assign those funds to a park, for example)
- Like the sewage and water systems in Iowa City, parking and transportation operate like businesses with no profit mode. The rates and local taxes pay for the systems with no external funding.
Half of the revenue generated will proliferate the Fare Free Bus System (FFBS). The City Manager informed us that even with that allocation, the FFBS still needs revenue to expand and offer more frequent/widespread service. The City Manager stated that any additional funding contributed to the FFBS will not be levied on any more parking increases for the foreseeable future.
- Additional funding goes towards parking ramp maintenance and the Block-by-Block's Downtown Ambassador program, which helps to beautify downtown and create a more welcoming experience for everyone.
- Because IC’s parking ramps are around 30-50 years old, and the other programs being annual expenses, the parking rates will not decrease in the future.
So what is USG doing about it?
As your student representatives, we understand that this can cause unnecessary financial stress. We are actively working with the city to develop programs to provide students with parking during the school year.
If you have any questions, please contact:
City Liaisons Matthew Monsivais and Ava Martinez usg-cityliaison@uiowa.edu
Governmental Relations Director Anna Amin usg-govrelations@uiowa.edu