Boynton Beach commissioners review proposed parking fee hike, veterans discount and new enforcement software

Boynton Beach City Commission members and staff spent a large portion of their June 3 agenda review discussing proposed changes to parking rates, permits and enforcement software that city staff say are intended to improve compliance and cover upcoming equipment and software upgrades.

City staff proposed raising the hourly beach parking rate to $3.50 and instituting a two-hour minimum at Oceanfront Park and Harvey Oyer, adding a $50 annual veterans pass to match the senior resident rate, increasing the standard citation fee from $25 to $40 and adding a $10 user-error processing fee for ParkMobile corrections. Staff also outlined plans to replace the city’s citation and permitting software with IPS while continuing ParkMobile for meter payments; staff estimated the first-year cost of the new enforcement software and related equipment at roughly $80,000–$95,000.

The proposal matters because Oceanfront Park and Harvey Oyer are the city’s primary paid parking locations and changes would affect residents, seasonal visitors and businesses that serve the beach. City staff said the fee increases would fund kiosk upgrades, a new citation workflow, and—eventually—optional parking-counting sensors and an online availability app that would let drivers see open spots before they arrive.

Damien, a staff member in the parks/parking team, summarized the package and the rationale for the citation increase: “The current citation fee of $25 is about the same of the max parking. So people have just been taking the citations instead of paying for a full day of parking, and just kinda playing the odds. So this just kind of helps us keep people honest, and making sure that they're actually paying their meter.” He also explained the proposed $50 veterans annual pass and said senior annual passes would not change.

Ted Lushark of Parking Services provided historical context for the present rates: “The last time the parking rate was changed was increased was November of 2023. I just had to pull it up from my email … it went from $1.50 up to $2.50 where we currently are right now.” Ted told commissioners the Harvey Oyer annual-permit sales have remained steady at about 1,600–1,667 permits.

Some commissioners pressed staff for more detail and warned of potential burdens on low-income residents and seniors. “I don't believe that this is the time to spend $95,000 on a parking software,” Commissioner Turkin said, arguing the city should consider economic stress on residents before raising fees. Commissioner Turkin also asked for historical rate-change charts and urged staff to provide a multiyear context for any increase.

By contrast, Commissioner Kelly supported the modernization steps and noted the importance of functioning kiosks: “I love the digital idea. I have a ParkMobile app. It's super easy to use, and it's super convenient,” she said, adding that improved technology could reduce recurring kiosk damage and maintenance costs.

Staff described several optional or future improvements that would require additional funding or later decisions. The parking-counting technology staff cited—similar to in use at Delray Beach’s Arts Garage—would require sensors in each parking spot and the vendor discussion is at an exploratory stage; staff said the counters and an app would be a later investment, not a current purchase. Damien said many kiosk repairs have been driven by people inserting objects into card readers and that tap-to-pay capability and other kiosk upgrades would reduce recurring repair expenses.

Staff committed to providing commissioners with comparables and historical context before the regular commission meeting. Ted and Damien said the presentation will include competitive rates from other Palm Beach County and South Florida municipalities and a five-year or three-year lookback on past fee changes. Staff also said the ordinance or fee schedule amendments and the software procurement items would be published with the regular commission meeting agenda, and the citation/permitting software switch and ParkMobile contract matters are slated to appear in the coming meeting packet.

No final procurement or purchase orders were approved during the agenda review. Commissioners directed staff to include the pricing comparables and historical rate charts in the formal meeting backup and to publish the parking-related presentations before the next meeting so absent commissioners can review them.

Next steps: parking fee schedule amendments, the ParkMobile contract extension and the proposed new citation/permitting software will appear on the upcoming commission agenda for formal consideration; staff said the software initial-year cost is estimated at about $80,000–$95,000 but that no purchase order has been issued yet.