Palm Beach County flirts with beach parking fees - Sun-Sentinel

Parking meters at the beach seem like sacrilege to native Floridians, including Palm Beach County Commission Chairwoman Karen Marcus, who consider beach access a birth right.

While Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Palm Beach and other communities use beach parking fees to boost revenues, Palm Beach County has shied away from adding more parking meters to waterfront parks.

"I'm a native. Paying to park at the beach is something we don't understand," Marcus said. "You can't keep nickel-and-diming people all the time."
But facing another budget shortfall and the prospect of raising property-tax rates for the third consecutive year, beach parking fees have been suggested as a way to help cover county costs.

County Commissioner Shelley Vana last week called for looking into charging for beach parking. If the cities do it, the county should consider it, according to Vana.

A parking-fee compromise could be just charging for prime spaces closest to the beach, Vana said. She contends that the parking fees could help cover beach-related expenses such as lifeguards.

"A lot of other places charge for parking at the beach," said Vana, a Florida transplant. "It is a user fee."

The County Commission holds its final vote Tuesday on the upcoming budget and property-tax rate, and beach parking fees have become a recurring budget-time flirtation for commissioners.

Only two of the 15 county-owned beach parks — in Palm Beach and Boca Raton — charge for parking.

Last year, the county estimated that adding a $1.50-an-hour parking charge to the remaining beach parks could raise $2.5 million a year. Concerns about public backlash prompted commissioners to abandon the idea.

Commissioner Steven Abrams said that while there likely is not a consensus on the County Commission to try beach parking fees this year, the county should consider adding beach parking meters as well as fees to other county attractions.

Charging to park at nature centers and raising more money through fees at county pools could be ways to cut the costs of providing popular community facilities, Abrams said.

"Virtually every city in America has parking meters," said Abrams, the former mayor of Boca Raton. "Clearly, people are looking for ways to balance the budget without raising property-tax rates."

The county faces a $40 million budget shortfall, blamed on past county spending combined with property tax revenues dropping amid the struggling economy.

The latest county budget plan calls for avoiding the shortfall by raising the property-tax rate just under 1 percent and slashing spending on roadwork and other construction projects.

Parking fees don't earn enough to make a dent in the county's $40 million deficit, and an economic downturn is no time to start making people pay more to go to the beach, Marcus said.

"People can't afford it," she said.

abreid@tribune.com or 561-228-5504

22 Sep, 2011

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