Buman ban on more city parking meters Author: By DAMON CRONSHAW Date: 11/08/2008 Publication: Newcastle Herald
NO more parking meters would be installed in Newcastle, if Aaron Buman was elected lord mayor and gained control of Newcastle City Council.
Cr Buman, a lord mayoral candidate at the council elections in September, said yesterday that if he and his team of candidates won power there would be "no more new parking meters in Newcastle".
Cr Buman encouraged people booked between today and the election on September 13 to send a copy of their ticket to Lord Mayor John Tate's office.
"Newcastle made $7 million from parking last year; that's 6 per cent of the budget," he said.
"Newcastle City Council has unfortunately become dependent on revenue from parking meters."
Parking meters were "an added burden on ratepayers and residents who are already feeling the pinch from rate increases and rising fuel costs", he said.
Cr Buman said the council was "narrow" in the way it raised money.
"The council has many poorly-managed assets that are empty and slowly deteriorating, but all the council can come up with is additional parking meters."
He proposed examining other cities to learn how to generate money for the city, rather than "hitting ratepayers for more".
"Parking meters helped kill off the mall markets; they are bad for business."
He said it was difficult for Newcastle businesses to compete against other areas in the Hunter that did not have paid parking.
The Herald reported last year that the council received $2.24 million from parking fines and $5.18 million from parking meters and stations in 2006-07.
Parking meters and fines were the council's third major revenue source behind rates ($81 million) and tip fees ($10.3 million).