Politics & Government
Parking Increase, Other Funding Could Replace NID Proposal
Establishing a NID seems less and less popular among Easton elected officials, though support for the programs it would fund is strong.
City officials seem less receptive to the idea of the proposed (NID), though support for the programs it is intended to fund has not waned.
At a workshop meeting Tuesday evening, during of sessions planned to take input for alternative ideas to fund the city's Main Street and Ambassadors programs, city council members, the mayor and a few members of the public offered more suggestions, including:
- Increasing the rate or lengthening the hours of operation.
- Adding a $10 per year charge to the city garbage fee to offset some costs, which could raise in excess of $71,000 annually.
- Utilizing or creating a “Welfare to Work” program that would be able to assist the program and provide job training simultaneously.
- Creating a community development fund to provide support for a variety of city programs in addition to those Downtown.
Presented by councilmen Mike Fleck and Ken Brown, the community development fund idea received only a lukewarm reception from other council members.
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“I think that everything the city spends money on is community development,” said Vice Mayor El Warner, who is expected to present a plan for a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) from at Wednesday's council meeting.
Brown said the plan was a work in progress, and it was the job of the council to look at the issue from all angles.
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He and Fleck plan to approach banks in the area for community reinvestment funding, and to look at other sources of revenue for funding the two programs.
“We need to look at these programs and come up with an acceptable way of funding them, not just put the burden on 8 percent of the population,” Fleck said.
While the community development plan might not work exactly as the initially presented, Councilman Roger Ruggles said it and other alternatives should be seriously considered.
“With what Mike has proposed, I'm having a hard time seeing why we ,” he said.
Mayor Sal Panto said some sort of improvement district still makes sense, but a 6 mill increase for Downtown is unreasonable.
“I will continue to say a NID structure is the best way to ensure Downtown self-governance,” he said.“I agree that single family homes should not pay a NID. I'm still torn about the shop with apartments...I agree there needs (to be) a cap (on potential fee increases). I don't think it should go beyond the cost of living.”
Panto also said he'd be willing to look at funding the programs through a parking meter rate increase or extension of metered parking hours, saying again that he feels Easton's parking rates are low compared to comparable cities and a rate increase eventually is inevitable.
“Everywhere's at least a dollar an hour,” he said.
Other council members also potentially supported the idea, saying this would be fair, considering the businesses that routinely require the most city services are those whose clientèle mainly visit the city after metered parking is done for the day—patrons of the bars and restaurants.
“I have an open mind to raising parking meters for a specific purpose,” Fleck said.
But Connexions gallery owner and Greater Easton Development Partnership(GEDP) Board member Anthony Marraccini said raising parking rates or lengthening hours of operation could push stressed businesses over the edge and would be an inconvenience for residents.
Panto said in if the city did increase parking rates, it would likely also expand resident parking pass programs to compensate.
If a final funding solution for the two programs isn't established by the end of 2011, the mayor pledged to keep the programs going from the city's general fund.
“If this isn't resolved by the end of the year, I'll find the money for the Ambassadors because they're that important,” Panto said, adding that he'd also find funding for , if other funding isn't found for them by year's end.
But if the move were to become permanent, the city would eventually want to run the itself, he said.
“If the city were to start to fund it, I'd want them to be employees, and I'd want the city to manage (the program),” Panto said.
A final meeting to discuss NID alternatives with the public is scheduled for Saturday, July 23, at 9 a.m. in the mayor's conference room on the sixth floor of Easton's city hall.
