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Staff: Forgoing parking CPI increases would cost Lowell roughly $310,000 a year
Summary
Finance staff told the subcommittee that eliminating the CPI increase for garage pass card holders and transient users would reduce revenue by about $240,000 (pass cards) and $70,000 (transients) annually; councilors asked for detailed student-pass counts and enterprise‑fund accounting before any policy change.
Connor Baldwin presented numbers on the parking garages and said the CPI escalator required by ordinance has not been applied to transient rates and that pass card-holders number roughly 3,520 across all garages. He told the subcommittee that removing the 2026–27 CPI increase would reduce pass‑card revenue by about $20,000 a month — "So over a year's time, it's about $240,000 a year" — and would cost about $70,000 a year on the transient side, for a combined rough impact of about $310,000.
Councilors pressed for additional detail before deciding on any policy change: one councilor asked for definitive counts of student passes (staff reported 36 at the Ayotte Garage in August but said that typically increases once school resumes) and asked for a clearer accounting of enterprise-fund subsidies for school and municipal parking (surface lots and fleet storage). Baldwin and staff agreed to provide school-year pass counts, a per-tier breakdown, and the enterprise-fund accounting for the council’s review.
