South Bruce Peninsula issued fewer parking tickets this year, and that means parking revenue is likely to miss its target.
A staff report to council October 15th says the total parking revenue from the 2024 beach season is about $120,000 lower than what was projected in the 2024 budget.
As of the writing of that staff report, the revenue totals $629,776 (instead of a projected $749,930). It includes parking pass revenue of $502,376, (instead of projected $574,180) resident and student season pass revenue $58,770 (a bit more than projected $55,750) and fines and offences revenue of $68,628, (about $51,000 less than the projected $120,000).
Staff are also suggesting a change to the 2025 season pass program which would see all season passes, including non-resident passes being issued at town hall. They say they experienced difficulties this year with people purchasing
non-resident passes in error and requesting refunds, and they think requiring passes to be purchased at town hall will address the issue.
The report highlighted some suggestions from the community, including making parking free for people with accessible parking passes, which will be adopted in the updated parking program.
The plan is to also change the parking time limit at the Sauble Beach Town square from 15 minutes to 30. Director of Legislative Services/Clerk Angie Cathrae noted, during discussion, “15 minutes is really, not very much time to get out of your car, especially if you have any kind of accessibility issues. To get out of your car to go and stand in line whether you’re getting food or whether you’re going to the bathroom, it gives you no time to do any of that, and by the time you get back, your 15 minutes is up. Plus it’s an enforcement nightmare,” said Cathrae, explaining, “I don’t have enough money to have one staff member to stand there chalking tires every 15 minutes. So we’re thinking 30 minutes might be a better solution for us.”
The staff report says,588 parking tickets were issued in 2024. Staff say easier payment options resulted in more people paying for parking.
They say they had to void 800 parking tickets because people paid for a parking pass but typed their licence plate incorrectly and and were incorrectly ticketed.
There were 211 non-resident parking passes purchased, 38 employee passes, and 1253 resident passes.
The staff report also highlighted some public comments the Town has received regarding parking.