University Times

Pitt monthly parking permit fees are going up effective July 1. The price increase is needed to help offset a City of Pittsburgh-wide parking tax that was raised in February from 23 percent to 33 percent, according to Joseph Phillips, assistant vice chancellor for business.

In a June 14 memo sent to Pitt permit holders, Phillips stated, “The University has held its rates since [the city’s tax increase]….Parking operations can no longer absorb the increase, which through June will accumulate [to] nearly $190,000.”

Indoor parking rates will rise from $75 per month to $92 per month; outdoor rates are going up from $70 to $85 a month. Fee increases vary from a minimum of $8 to a maximum of $17.50 per month, depending on the type of permit.

The new rates include a $5 across-the-board increase for operational needs, Phillips said. That increase was planned before the city’s parking tax increase, and is only the second such increase to permit rates in the last 10 years, he said. Parking operations include providing a third-party facility operator, security, equipment, maintenance and upkeep of parking facilities, as well as paying toward debt service, utilities and other expenses. “Parking is a fee-for-service entity supported solely by the permit, transient and enforcement fees,” Phillips maintained.

(Daily/hourly parking rates for transient parkers also are set to rise for University-owned spaces in Sennott Square garage, Soldiers and Sailors garage, O’Hara Street garage, the OC lot and in Panther Hollow.)

According to Phillips, the new fees calculated as a daily rate for a University permit holder in a primary campus lot or garage range from $4.25 to $4.75, lower than the general Oakland market and significantly lower than Downtown parking rates.

Pre-tax deductions for parking fees, available through the Payroll department, help defray some of the fee increase, he added.

“Our rates continue to be very reasonable,” Phillips said, “having only two modest increases over the last 10 years.”

Pitt last raised permit fees in 1999 and, prior to that, in 1994. For more information, call the parking office at 412/624-4034, or visit: www.pts.pitt.edu/parking.

-Peter Hart