Aside from petitions challenging the city’s 2025 budget, the Bloomington City Council’s adoption of a 2025 spending plan a few weeks ago was relatively quiet.
The only issue was an amendment made the same night the budget was adopted (October 9) that would reduce spending from the parking meter fund by $250,000.
The Parking Meter Fund generates revenue from approximately 1,400 parking meters in downtown Bloomington. The cost is $1 per hour.
The $250,000 cut from Parking Meter Fund spending has been used in the past to provide grants to nonprofits addressing homelessness.
This budget amendment was proposed by City Councilman Matt Flaherty. He didn’t want to defund the subsidy program. They just didn’t want to take the money from the parking meter fund.
State law regulates how parking meter revenue is spent. Grants to support nonprofit organizations addressing homelessness are not among the uses listed.
Flaherty’s amendment is not just for the council, but also for City Manager Jessica McClellan, who is handling her first annual budget since taking over as city manager after Kelly Thomson became mayor at the beginning of the year. It was also unanimously supported.
On Oct. 9, Flaherty said: “This is in no way intended to determine whether the Downtown Outreach Grant Program is worth funding,” he added, adding that “it may be funded from other sources.” I don’t think the parking meter fund is an appropriate funding source or fund.”
State law enumerates the possible uses of parking revenue funds by municipalities.
(1) Parking meter purchase price, rental fee, and installation cost
(2) Costs for maintenance, operation, and repair of parking meters.
(3) Incidental costs and expenses associated with the operation of parking meters, including administrative and bookkeeping costs.
(4) The cost of traffic signal equipment used by the municipality.
(5) The cost of repairing and maintaining the public streets, curbs, and sidewalks on which parking meters are used and all public streets within the municipality connected thereto.
(6) The cost of acquiring, by lease or purchase, land suitable for municipally operated or leased off-street parking lots.
(7) Principal and interest on bonds issued to acquire parking facilities and equipment.
(8) The cost of improving and maintaining land for parking purposes and purchasing, installing, and maintaining parking meters on such land.
(9) Costs for providing approved school route shelters. This includes the cost of purchase, maintenance, operation, repair, and all other incidental costs. and
(10) Maintenance costs for municipal parks where parking meters are installed.
In his comments, McClellan said the amendment was “not controversial to us.” She added, “We will look for a suitable location to implement this (Downtown Outreach Grant) program and will return with our proposal in 2025.”
Both Flaherty and McClellan pointed out that the practice of funding homeless grant programs from parking revenue funds was a past practice established from previous administrations.
Four years ago, in response to B Square’s email questions about parking meter funds as a source of revenue for homeless assistance programs, then-city attorney Mike Rooker wrote:
For several years, the city has used a portion of parking meter proceeds to help people experiencing homelessness. State law allows parking meter revenue to be used to support maintenance of public roads and municipal parks. Homelessness poses myriad challenges on Bloomington’s sites and parks, and we have used meter revenue to address those concerns to ensure these public spaces are safe for all members of our community. Ta.
Previously, the Police Department was responsible for leveraging and spending these funds to maintain Bloomington’s right-of-way, but in reality, the Community Family Resources Department (CFRD) is responsible for addressing homelessness within public spaces. We have more expertise to manage and subsidize these funds to address them. . So for 2021, the administration proposed that the CFRD take over this responsibility.
A graph of operating budget numbers from the city’s online financial system shows that the department that administers the subsidized parking meter fund has changed from the police department to the CFRD. (Shared Google Sheet)
Here’s a breakdown of the grants that various nonprofits have received from the Parking Meter Fund since 2018:
Parking meter revenue received by Bloomington nonprofits working on homelessness: 2018-2024 Vendor 2018-2024 Centerstone of Indiana, INC $364,737 Beacon,INC (Shalom) $219,333 Wheeler Mission Ministries, INC $201,084 New Hope Family Shelter, INC $143,537 Sojourn House INC $95,1 62 HealthNet INC $58,572 Monroe County Humane Association, INC $38,171 Amethyst House, INC $28,000 Middle Way House, INC $20,000 New Leaf/New Life, INC $17,864 Hotels for Hope INC $14,710 Courage to Change Sober Living, INC $12,340 Indiana Recovery Alliance $11,250 Community Kitchen Of Monroe County, INC $9,750 Robin & Trishas House INC $4,200 Total $1,238,710
The parking meter fund could have easily covered the $250,000 expense. The parking meter fund’s estimated balance at the end of 2024 will be approximately $4.2 million. The Parking Meter Fund’s planned expenditures for 2025 are $1 million more than budgeted revenues. That would leave the parking meter fund with a balance of $3.3 million at the end of 2025.
The Parking Meter Fund’s 2025 budgeted revenue is $3,123,737, which reflects the first increase in budgeted amounts since 2020. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the City of Bloomington has budgeted $2,445,472 in parking meter revenue each year. Meter Fund.
This is despite the fact that it is clearly showing signs of recovery. Total parking meter revenue is expected to be approximately $2.8 million at the end of 2024, through most of October. This is comparable to 2019’s total revenue.
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Published October 20, 2024
