West Chester parking garages report solid November revenue; vendor error left $20 event rate active at Bicentennial

Chris Hankins of Colonial Parking told the West Chester Parking Committee that combined garage revenue for November totaled $216,261 and that year-to-date net operating income for the two garages is about $900,575, "again, above budget and well ahead of November '24." He said contract-parker counts were 295 at Bicentennial and 710 at Chestnut Street, a combined 1,005 contract parkers.

Hankins said Thanksgiving weekend parking rose year over year, from 2,150 transient parkers last year to 2,828 this year, a roughly 31% increase. He also summarized Christmas-parade garage use and noted the average ticket value dropped to $3.59 from $3.95 the prior November.

Committee members raised concerns that the $20 special-event rate for the parade remained in effect past the event. "It did not come off at the Bicentennial garage," Hankins said, explaining the Chestnut Street garage removed the event rate as scheduled but the vendor "wasn't able to remove it until the following morning." He said staff would quantify how many motorists were affected and follow up.

Later in the meeting, a refund total was reported: "$1,300 was what was refunded," a staff member said when discussing parade-related refunds and credits. Committee members requested that staff provide the precise number of impacted motorists and the timing of the rate removal at Bicentennial.

The committee asked staff to minimize recurrence, and Hankins said the event rates are preset in the vendor system and he would work with the vendor to prevent a repeat. He also noted a prior-month accounting issue: contract revenue for the Chestnut Street garage was understated by about $25,000 and that shift affected month-to-month variances.

The committee did not take a formal vote on operational actions at the meeting; members asked staff for more detailed post-meeting data on affected motorists and refunds.