Parking Authority to Charge $5 for Residential Parking Permit

Parking in the borough may be free during the holidays, but starting next week, Fort Lee residents needing a parking permit will have to shell out five dollars for a four-year sticker.

More than 20 people packed Borough Hall's cramped conference room Thursday morning, many expressing concerns about the $5 fee, including objections to the fee in principle, concerns about the difficult economic times and the additional burden the fee will place on residents, fears that the fee will go up over time and objections to the timing of the public hearing—on a weekday morning when many people, they argued, couldn't attend.

"It's a user fee, and I resent a user fee," said Fort Lee resident Nina Levinson at last week's mayor and council meeting. "I don't care if it's five dollars or five hundred dollars. It's a user fee."

But those concerns and objections apparently fell on deaf ears, as the four council members present for the special meeting—Ila Kasofsky, Armand Pohan, Joseph Cervieri and Havey Sohmer—passed the resolution unanimously after joining Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich in hammering home their message that the fee is a mere five dollars and that it's good for a four year permit. More importantly, they said, it helps defray the costs associated with administering the residential parking program, including printing the stickers, signs, maintenance, salaries, benefits and additional office hours.

"This [fee] is for the purposes of having those people that need the sticker to help defray the administrative cost … in a municipality that is home to the biggest bridge in the world," Sokolich said. "When you weigh the benefits the Parking Authority provides, [they] far outweigh the negatives and the expense."

Some members of the council pointed out that the Fort Lee Parking Authority provides other services to the community, such as free rides for seniors, but that the residential parking program provides the added benefit of preventing people from outside the area from leaving their cars on Fort Lee streets for long periods of time while they go into New York City.

"The service being provided is that the town removes the out-of-towner from parking on our streets and depriving local residents of those parking spots," councilman Armand Pohan said. "This is the lowest fee I can find for any of the fees being charged [for other services]. I don't think this is an unreasonable fee."

The Fort Lee Parking Authority has been providing the permits free of charge for nearly 30 years, issuing about 4,500 stickers a year or about 18,000 over a four-year period.

Councilman Harvey Sohmer last week estimated that the residential parking program operates on a deficit to the Parking Authority of $162,000 over a four-year period, but that with the new fee, that deficit will be reduced to $72,000.

"This is just some money that we're going to get back," Sohmer said.

The council did agree to urge the Parking Authority to adopt a policy of providing a 15-minute grace period after metered parking expires for residents with the sticker. The new fee goes into effect on Tuesday, Dec. 28.