How Much Is The City Paying ACS for Closed Parking Spaces Downtown?; Councilor Rivera Gets Facts Wrong About City's Share of Parking Fees

A couple weeks or so ago, the City released figures that purport to show the city's parking meter revenue rose subtantially over a 3 month period compared to the same period during 2009 and 2010.  While on their face the numbers raised questions, my knowledge of the contract prompted even bigger questions.

What about all the closed parking spaces downtown?  According to the contract, when a parking space is closed for construction, it is considered a "temporary closure."  Under the contract, the City of Indianapolis owes $15 or $20 (depending on which zone the parking meter is in) for each day the parking meter is unavailable.

Under the contract, the Temporary Closure Fee is deducted from the City's revenue share.  So the City could claim it is receiving X amount of revenue, but that figure is actually before the City pays ACS the Temporary Closure Fee.

I think it is a conservative estimate that an average 150 downtown parking places have been kept closed this summer due to construction.  Let's split the difference on the zones and estimate a Temporary Closure penalty of $17.50 a day.   That is $2,625 a day the City is paying.  Let's say the construction that has kept those meters closed lasts for 120 days.    That's $315,000 the City owes ACS for that period.

I focused on a four month period because the City claimed it made $498,273 in "revenue" off of the parking meters from March through June of 2011, a four month period. That is exactly 30% of the $1,660,910 in total revenue.   But under the terms of the contract, the temporary closure fee is actually a deduction from the City's revenue share.  So the City could have claimed it got $498,273 in revenue while failing to disclose that that figure is actually reduced by $315,000 (my example) in temporary closure fees to just $183,273.

Here's another trick included in the contract.  In the central portion of downtown parking meters have to be fed from 7 am to 9 pm, 14 hours.  At full capacity, $1 an hour for a meter in that area generates $14.  Of that $14, we get 30% or $4.20 while ACS gets 70% or $9.80.  If the meter is closed, however, ACS gets $20 for the day for that closed meter while we get $0.   ACS makes twice as much money off the parking meter if it is not available for parking.

Councilor Angel Rivera

Unfortunately no one in the media has started asking questions about how much these closed parking spaces are costing the City.

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On a related note, reportedly Republican at-large councilor Angel Rivera told the audience at a Decatur Township election forum that the City gets most of the parking revenue under the ACS 50 year contract.  Wrong, Angel.  We get just 30%.  From March through June of 2011, the City reported that the total revenue from the parking meters was $1,660,910, while the City's share owas $498,273.  That is exactly 30% which matches the 30% share the City is entitled to in Schedule 2.1 of the Contract.  Of course, even that figure is before deductions from the City's revenue share for things like temporary closures.