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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – A few hours at a parking spot in Pleasantville may only cost a couple of quarters. However, that loose change from your car’s cup holder goes a long way for the village. In Pleasantville’s fiscal year ending in May of 2012, the village earned more than $640,000 in revenues from parking fees and fines, including $255,489 from parking meters alone.
Pleasantville Village Administrator Patti Dwyer said that parking fees and fines are a major revenue stream that goes into the general fund for the village and is also positive sign for local businesses.
“We see it as a good thing, that there’s more activity going on in the downtown area of the village,” Dwyer said.
To put into perspective how major of a revenue stream parking meters are, over the past five years the quarters placed into meters in Pleasantville have generated more than $1.2 million in revenue for the village.
Pleasantville has about 150 meters around the village that require payment either through quarters or an E-Z park card. Although the village has not added any parking meters in many years, Dwyer said, the yearly revenue from parking meters has steadily increased over the past five years. In 2008, the village took in around $237,191, about $20,000 less than the amount earned in 2012.
Parking fines are another separate revenue stream for the village. Over the past year, the village has taken in $210,610 in parking fines, up from $187,556 last year. The revenue from parking fines is enough to pay for the village’s cost to employ two full time parking enforcement officers and other costs related to the parking enforcement program, which Dwyer says costs about $150,000 a year.
Dwyer said that a reason for the increase in parking meter revenues and parking fines could be that less Pleasantville residents are choosing to purchase the year-long parking permit.
“People are buying the parking permit less because they may have some sort of job change,” Dwyer said, adding that the permit is reserved for business owners in town or commuters using the village train station.
Comments (1)
I lived in Pleasantville for about 9 years and the worst thing about it was the parking meters and tickets. As soon as you park your car the meter maid is checking to see if you put in your quarters, and will slap a ticket on your car instantly. Don't even run across the street to put letters in the box...bam a ticket ! Pick up dry cleaning....bam a ticket !. And then came the night I stopped in the new wine bar with a friend and parked in a practically empty lot next door....and got booted and charged $70. for the hour there, with the tow truck waiting for us! Why? Because the lot belongs to Jon Jacques and although they are closed at night, they don't allow parking in their lot. However it did not have a chain across the entrance and the little sign by the entrance was covered by growth. The large sign on the lot side of the wine bar building didn't say it belonged to Jon Jacques. I have never lived in such an unfriendly town.