HOLMES BEACH – City commissioners may have more questions than ever after a lengthy discussion about charging residents a $15 fee for parking decals allowing them to park on designated “permit-only” streets in residential neighborhoods.
Since the Island hosts thousands of visitors each month, and the majority arrive by motor vehicle, the parking of these vehicles on residential streets to gain access to Gulf beaches is an obvious concern for residents, especially now, during spring break and the busy spring tourist season. Holmes Beach Ordinance No. 20-10 was established to provide controlled parking in residential areas by permit.
Commissioner Jayne Christenson proposed the adoption of a resolution to eliminate the $15 fee currently in place to obtain a parking decal from the city.
“I would like to propose two things,” Christenson said: “That we either do away with the fee completely; I don’t believe that residents should be charged a fee to be able to park in front of their own homes. If we can’t compromise on that, possibly what an alternative could be, if you live on a permit-only street, you shouldn’t have to pay.”
Personally affected by this fee, Christenson noted that she has four vehicles, which means $60 to her.
“I refuse to pay $15; it’s the principle of the matter,” she said.
Commissioner Christenson also suggested that money from a $1.8 million grant that the city is getting from either the county or state could be moved around to offset the permit fee for residents. She was not specific on the grant, its intended use or how this movement of money would take place.
Chairperson Jim Kihm joined the discussion saying, “If we didn’t charge a permit fee, everybody would want a permit, and the administration cost would be very expensive for the city.” Kihm offered a compromise, suggesting the first parking decal could be free to residents, and subsequent decals would remain $15.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer pointed out that very few of the permits had been issued in the six months since they began, and that based on the number of permits obtained (171), there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest from residents. He also said that he supported the $15 fee and it was a “nominal cost.” The fact that the fee was low was echoed by most of the commissioners, as well as by Mayor Judy Titsworth and Police Chief William Tokajer. Commissioner Christenson seemed to be the lone holdout on the amount of money.
“Since March 1st, the city has issued 267 tickets, and only 13 of those tickets were for parking without a permit in permitted areas, which means the system is working well,” Tokajer said.
Speaking about Chairperson Kihm’s suggestion to offer the first permit free, Tokajer said, “If you give one permit free, you give the permit to residents who live on a permit parking road, not the entirety of the city, because that would give 4,000 residents the opportunity to come to city hall and get a permit without paying anything. That would be costly in generated time and work from the city.”
While it seemed a compromise on the matter was soon to come, the debate had just begun.
The mayor took to the podium multiple times during the lengthy discussion, pushing to keep the fee in place.
“People do not like taxes, so we’re trying to base fees on who is using them. There is a perk for people who live on permit parking-only streets. They don’t have off-Island people parking on their streets,” Titsworth said.
Commissioners Carol Soustek and Kim Rash didn’t seem to have a problem with the fee either, but were on board with the idea of the first permit being free.
Once the majority of commissioners were in agreement that one free permit per resident was a plausible compromise, it remains for them to decide if this will apply to only full-time residents or all homeowners, which would include those who own property, but mostly used that property as a vacation rental.
