Tickets, permits and parking meters are three ways Emporia State Police and Safety raises funding for parking lots and their upkeep.
“All the meter money – it all goes to what we call a revenue fund,” said Chris Hoover, executive officer of Police and Safety. “The parking goes to the parking department which is anything that requires maintaining the parking lot.”
During the 2014 Fiscal Year, the parking department made $121,059 on parking permits, $75,070.06 from parking meters and $57,754.95 from parking fines. The combined amount of $253,884.01 for the 2014 Fiscal Year goes into filling cracks in the parking lot, as well as the roads on campus, and the expansion of parking lots for students, employees and visitors to use.
“I guess it makes me feel better about getting a ticket knowing that it’s getting put to good use,” said Spencer Anderson, senior communication major and parking attendant.
Parking fees also go toward the equipment necessary to monitor parking. One digital housing unit for the parking meters costs about $169.
“I’ve been buying digital because they don’t make the mechanical parts anymore,” Hoover said.
Other expenditures go toward software called PowerPak Flex to keep up with the monitoring of parking lots. According to Hoover, the software provides field access to issue citations. This comes with yearly fees for software maintenance of about $20,000. Some other fees tend to cost more and are specified to certain time periods.
“I try to stagger the larger more expensive projects every other year,” Hoover said. “There simply isn’t enough revenue to support a large project each year.”
Larger projects include the resurfacing of lot E of Stormont Maintenance in the fiscal year of 2011 which cost approximately $113,000, another $113,000 project of the new parking lot in-front of King Hall being completed during the 2013 fiscal year, according to the Other Operating Expenses account report.
Hoover hopes to resurface the Towers Complex parking next summer with an estimate of $120,000 to be spent.
“Finding a spot can be frustrating,” said Mia Combs, sophomore math education major and resident of Morse Hall. “During the weekends, sometimes it can get empty. During the holidays, it empties out, but during the week, if I leave my spot to go grocery shopping or anywhere, when I come back it’s usually taken and I have to park farther away than I would like.”
Combs has a green parking permit which allows her to park next to the Morse housing, but others are currently on a waiting list, and using parking meters or free parking until they can receive a parking permit allowing them to park closer to where they live on campus.
