Kingston Mayor to Double Parking Prices

Kingston Mayor, Steven Noble, is planning on doubling the price of parking in 2017.

According to a letter he sent out, the city of Kingston has 11 public parking lots and owns 9 of them. The city must pay for improvements to those 9 lots meaning that every tax payer in the city "regardless of whether they own a car or use these lots, are paying for their daily maintenance, along with the long term costs of capital improvements."

Mayor Noble continues by stating "The City is taking a proactive approach to lower its expenses, but the vast majority of City spending is made up of mandated costs that are not amendable. With insurance costs alone projected to increase by $700,000, the City must either raise taxes or raise revenues."  Kingston is paying less than most small cities for on-the street parking.  Noble and the City of Kingston are looking to make the parking change easier for community members, by making meters credit card accessible and avoid having residents revisit their meters while attending local businesses because they have run out of time.

While it sounds like an easy transition, the letter goes on to say that on January 1st 2017 instead of  .50 cents per hour, parking prices will go up to $1. In the upcoming months, Mayor Nobel will be meeting with local businesses, organizing ward meetings and meetings with residence as well as launching an online survey about long term parking options.

You can get more information from Mayor Noble by checking out his full letter and the Kingston City website. What do you think of the increase parking prices? Will it be worth receiving these parking updates? Let us know down below or on our Facebook page.