Fernandina Beach Paid Parking Tops $500,000 in Net Revenue as June Earnings Climb

Mike Lednovich/Editor

FERNANDINA BEACH — Fernandina Beach's downtown paid parking program generated $113,977 in net revenue during June, pushing the city's year-to-date net revenue to more than $500,000 as the system continues to outperform early expectations despite falling short of the original financial projections.

According to the June invoice submitted by parking operator One Parking, the city collected $170,806.99 in gross revenue during the month and realized $113,977.48 in net proceeds after operating expenses, management fees and other costs.

The June results continue the steady growth city officials highlighted during a June media briefing, when they projected the program would generate approximately $1.1 million in annual net revenue, compared with the original estimate of $1.8 million that was made before the City Commission reduced hourly parking rates from $3 to $2 and approved free permits for city residents.

June's gross revenue consisted primarily of $154,603.87 in hourly parking receipts, along with $11,056 in permit revenue and $5,434.50 in parking citation revenue.

Permit sales included 65 new annual non-city resident permits, 192 new city resident permits, 21 third-vehicle city resident permits and six monthly non-resident permits. Additional permit revenue also included parking permits purchased by the Amelia Island Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Fernandina Beach Library.

The report shows motorists purchased 23,393 hourly parking sessions during June. Two-hour parking remained the most popular choice, accounting for 9,717 transactions, followed by one-hour parking with 9,033 transactions and three-hour parking with 3,226 transactions.

Operating expenses for the month totaled $53,167.54, including parking management, enforcement, customer service, payment processing and other program costs.

The city also remitted $3,661.96 in sales tax generated from taxable parking transactions in surface parking lots.

City officials have said revenue generated by the paid parking program is restricted to the Parking Special Revenue Fund and may be used only for parking, downtown and waterfront improvements, maintenance and related capital projects.

Potential future uses include waterfront maintenance, downtown infrastructure improvements, parking enhancements and projects associated with the city's waterfront redevelopment plans, although no specific projects have yet been approved for funding.

The paid parking program remains the subject of political debate and is on the Aug. 18 ballot as a referendum on whether voters want to continue the program.