Parking fines are going up in Salmon Arm.
City council approved the increases at its June 26 meeting with final reading of Bylaw 4592.
With the bylaw’s approval, parking violation fines are increasing from $35 to $50. The reduced rate for payments made within two days is also going up, from $10 to $25.
At council’s June 12 meeting, it was explained how in response to the increase in parking rates that came into effect in July 2022, people began to favour parking on the street over the city’s paid parking lots.
“Since the implementation of the parking fee increase it seems the use of the Inner Core parking lot has declined substantially,” reads a staff report to council. “It is suspected that some of the inner core users may now be parking on the street for extended periods of time, which is causing some problem for the downtown merchants who need those parking spaces for customers.”
Staff also noted in the report that the $10 penalty for parking violations paid within two days, was “so low there is no incentive to pay for parking on an hourly basis.”
Read more: Parking fines jump in Salmon Arm to keep on-street parking open for customers
Read more: Metered parking increasing from 25 cents to $1 per hour in Salmon Arm
lachlan@saobserver.net
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