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Port Jefferson board extends meter hours to midnight, sets $1 hourly rate after debate
Summary
After a lengthy debate over revenue and enforcement, the board amended a Chamber/BID parking recommendation to enforce metered parking from noon to midnight at $1 per hour, seven days a week, with enforcement running April 1 through Thanksgiving Eve.
The Village of Port Jefferson Board of Trustees voted March 11 to amend Chamber of Commerce and Business Improvement District recommendations and extend metered parking enforcement from noon to midnight, setting the rate at $1 per hour seven days a week. The change is scheduled to take effect April 1 and continue through Thanksgiving Eve.
Trustees debated tradeoffs between turnover, enforcement capacity and budget impact. Treasurer Stephen Gafka presented conservative revenue estimates for the extended hours, saying the village’s metered parking revenue would be "about $531,000" under historical transaction assumptions and that combined with other parking receipts the village could expect roughly $610,000; she added an estimated worst‑case drop of about $45,000 compared with current budgeted expectations. Trustee Hill and others pressed that extending hours would deter late‑night congregating and improve public safety, while other trustees urged caution about relying on increased ticketing as an offset.
Karen Sullivan, representing the Business Improvement District and local merchants, told the board that the later enforcement window is intended to discourage crowds that gathered last season and said, “I would respectfully love it if we could keep it just a dollar an hour, you know, all the time.” The board amended the resolution to move the enforcement endpoint to midnight, then approved the amended motion by voice vote.
Mayor Sheppard said the administration will coordinate signage and code‑enforcement equipment before the April 1 start and asked the treasurer and staff to monitor actual meter and ticket revenues so the village can track any budget variance.
The amended resolution keeps the suspension period (Thanksgiving day through March 31) and maintains the seasonal enforcement window (April 1 through Thanksgiving Eve). The board did not adopt additional weekend peak pricing at this meeting; trustees agreed to review revenue and enforcement data after implementation.
