City Council Votes to Increase Parking Sticker Fee

The Cambridge City Council voted at a meeting yesterday to increase the residential parking sticker fee for 2011 from $8 to $20 per permit, and to further raise the fee by $5 in 2013.

The additional revenue will be used to fund the expansion of the City’s transportation and environmental programs, according to a letter addressed to the Council from City Manager Robert W. Healy. But he did not specify the exact nature of the “programs,” causing some councillors to express concerns about the ultimate destination of the money.

“We owe the people [of Cambridge] an explanation of where this [money] is going to be spent on,” said Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. the only councillor who voted against the proposal.

He said that the fee increase is “arbitrary” and “unfair” to Cambridge citizens who might not be “financially comfortable” with the change.

Although Councillor Marjorie C. Decker voted for the proposal, she conceded that “the Council should have spent more time on what the money should be used for.”

The permit increases for 2011 and 2013 passed by an eight to one vote at the Council meeting.

The first change will be effective this coming January, and seniors—who do not have to pay parking fees under current regulations—are exempt from both increases.

“I have never been a fan of increasing fees, but I do see the worthiness of this [increase],” said Cambridge Mayor David P. Maher, adding that he is “pleased” that senior citizens will continue to be exempt from the tax increase.

Echoing the mayor, Councillor Sam Seidel said that the “moderate” increase “is not an undue burden for the vast majority of the citizens.”

In support of the decision, Cambridge citizen Minka VanBeuzekom said that the increase in the permit fee could lead to a decrease in residential parking and an increase in pedestrian and bike traffic. “I urge the Council to pass this increase tonight,” she said.

The Council last increased the parking fee in 1992, when it doubled the $4 parking fee that had been in effect since the mid-1970s.

—Staff writer Sirui Li can be reached at sli@college.harvard.edu.