Long-term parking at Redding Municipal Airport just got a little more expensive, while short-term parking is now free. With a unanimous vote, the City Council on Tuesday agreed to switch the parking concessionaire, change rates and install a pair of automated, cashier-less pay kiosks.
Rod Dinger, the city’s support services director, told council members the changes would generate more revenue while opening up approximately 100 free (for the first four hours) parking spaces for people dropping off and picking up passengers, conducting business with the airport or dining at Peter Chu’s Skyroom.
Long-term parking rates were raised from $7 to $8 per day and from $42 to $48 per week. Drivers parking for more than four hours in the short-term spaces will be charged $16 per day.
Parking at the airport had been free from the terminal’s construction in 1981 until 1992, when the city contracted with Republic Parking System to serve as a concessionaire. Dinger said the change was an effort to make the airport a self-supporting enterprise.
In 2004, partly in response to increased traffic at the airport, the city switched to Action Parking Services and a pay station that was staffed from 4:30 a.m. to midnight. Dinger said that fixed-fee arrangement was profitable for several years. In 2006, the city earned $408,393 in parking revenue and paid Action Parking $113,767.
By 2012, thanks to reduced passenger airline service, airport parking revenues shrank to $175,667 while Action Parking’s cut increased to $141,882. Under the automated system and revenue-sharing plan approved Tuesday, Dinger said the city would have netted slightly more than twice as much last year.
In other action Tuesday, the council:
— Voted unanimously to table an 18-month-old study of potential tax-sharing agreements between Shasta County and the cities of Anderson and Shasta Lake. Representatives from the four agencies had been meeting since May 2012 to consider ways to share expenses and tax proceeds related to the proposed commercial development at the intersection of Oasis Road and Twin View Boulevard.
City Manager Kurt Starman said the infrequent meetings failed to produce much more than the fact that the county and three cities all continue to struggle with a tough economy that has severely impacted sales and property tax revenues.
“We’ve had some fundamental differences,” said Councilman Patrick Jones, who represented the city in the discussions along with Mayor Rick Bosetti. “The meetings were productive, so all is not lost,” Jones added.
— Voted to accept a total of $362,225 in grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety to be used by Redding police in support of programs aimed at reducing drunken and drugged driving in the city.
Jon Lewis is a freelance writer living in Redding. He has more than 30 years experience writing for newspapers and magazines. Contact him at jonpaullewis@gmail.com.
