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Cost to park in downtown Spokane to increase starting in September

City of Spokane Parking Enforcement Specialist II L. Morse issues an overtime citation to a vehicle at a parking meter on Main Avenue at Post Street in April 2021. (DAN PELLE/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Emry Dinman emryd@spokesman.com(509) 459-5472

Parking in downtown Spokane will soon become more expensive as city officials warn local legislators that revenues have struggled to recover after a pandemic slump.

A 50 cents per hour increase for all parking zones will be rolled out starting in September to help recover some of that lost revenue, said Luis Garcia, director of Parking Services, during a Monday meeting with the Spokane City Council. This will bump up hourly rates to $1.70 for a two-hour parking zone, $1.30 in a four-hour zone and $1 in an 11-hour zone.

This will be the first rate increase since 2011, according to the parking department.

Parking revenues dropped precipitously during the pandemic. In 2019, the city was collecting almost $3.4 million from parking, which plummeted to $1.9 million in 2020. The drop was not just due to fewer people coming downtown but also because the city made all parking downtown free for several months to encourage people to patronize struggling businesses.

Around 80 high-use spaces near restaurants have also been permanently converted into 10-minute parking zones for quick pick-ups.

Revenue has since rebounded substantially, but the parking department is still expecting to spend $900,000 more than it brings in this year, according to a staff report. Unlike many other city operations, parking services was not buoyed with pandemic relief funds.

The rate increases are predicted to bring in an additional $1.5 million in revenue annually, Garcia told council members Monday.

Parking rates cannot be set higher than $3 or lower than 50 cents per hour under current code, and they can’t be adjusted by more than 50 cents at a time or more often than twice a year.

The city has set a goal for at least 85% of street parking spaces to be in use at any given time, and municipal code instructs the parking manager to increase or lower rates as needed to meet that goal. It’s not clear what the current parking spot occupancy rate is, Garcia told council members, due to a staffing shortage that has been maintained in part to cut costs in the department.