sealPurdue News
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January 13, 2003

Purdue parking permit prices to rise for staff, students

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ‹ Purdue University officials announced today (Monday, 1/13) that students, faculty and staff will begin to pay more for parking permits in August, the first increase in more than three decades.

"This increase in parking fees ‹ the first since 1971 ‹ is necessary to provide additional operating revenue for the parking program and to reduce dependence on subsidies from the university," said Mike Jasper, parking facilities manager.

"Parking fees have been kept low to minimize the impact on faculty, staff and students," Jasper said. "We didn't want to add a further financial burden at a time when health benefit costs increased and support from the state decreased. We delayed implementing the fee increases as long as possible, but we couldn't put it off any longer."

To soften the impact, Jasper said faculty and staff can choose to pay their parking fees through a pretax payroll deduction plan, which will go into effect in January 2004. The university is modifying its payroll system to accommodate the pretax capability. The pretax program for A parking permits will save Purdue employees an average of about 25 percent, according to Purdue's human resource office.

Annual permit fees are currently $72 for A permits, $30 for B permits, $30 for C permits, $72 for C-Garage (CG) permits and $333 for reserved permits.

Annual increases, scheduled in increments through August 2007, are as follows:

August 2003: A permits, $96; B permits, $40; C permits $40; CG permits, $96; reserved, $500.

August 2004: A permits, $150; B permits, $60; C permits $60; CG permits, $150; reserved, $750.

August 2005: A permits, $200; B permits, $80; C permits $80; CG permits, $200; reserved, $750.

August 2007: A permits, $250; B permits, $100; C permits $100; CG permits, $250; reserved, $1,000.

There will be no increase in 2006.

Purdue issues about 16,250 parking permits each year. Jasper said the program's current revenue from all sources, including permit sales, amounts to approximately $2 million annually, which is slightly more than half of the approximately $3.8 million needed each year to operate the program. The remainder of the parking program's funding comes from the university operational budget and an endowment fund. When the additional fee structure is implemented in 2007 it will provide an additional $2.26 million to offset annual costs.

Jasper said the parking program's greatest expense is its debt service for past garage construction. Garage construction debt service costs Purdue approximately $2 million annually.

Other expenses include salaries and wages for eight parking staff members and parking enforcement staff, maintenance for garages, maintenance and leases for surface lots, printing of permits and other written materials, signage and supplies.

Jasper said the new parking fee structure was based on an April 2000 proposal submitted by the University Parking and Traffic Committee, a subcommittee of the University Senate.

The 2000 proposal also recommended:

- increasing all parking permit rates four times over a six-year period, beginning in August 2001.

- providing unlimited access to City Bus for faculty and staff as well as students.

- increasing the cost of reserved spaces.

- increasing the cost of fines.

- constructing a remote lot before fall 2001 at Gates Road and Nimitz Drive.

All of the recommendations were adopted in 2001 except for increasing A and B staff permit prices. Implementation was delayed ‹ with only reserve permit prices rising in 2001 from $250 to $333. Fines also were increased in fall 2001.

Parking prices at Purdue will remain lower than, or comparable to, other Big Ten universities, even after the multiyear schedule of increases has been completed, Jasper said. For example, in fall 2002, faculty and staff at Indiana University paid from $100 to $254, based on proximity to campus.

By fall 2007, Purdue faculty and staff permit prices will range from $100 to $250 and student commuters will pay $100.

Writer: Writer: Grant Flora, (765) 494-2073, gflora@purdue.edu

Source: Mike Jasper, parking facilities manager, (765) 494-9315, jmjasper@purdue.edu.

Purdue Parking Web site: https://www.adpc.purdue.edu/PhysFac/parking/

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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