Should BIAs in Windsor get a share of parking meter revenue?

A Windsor city councillor is asking if BIAs should get a portion of parking meter money in Windsor. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell has more.

A Windsor city councillor is raising the possibility of directing a portion of parking meter revenue back to the city’s Business Improvement Associations (BIAs), saying it could help fund beautification efforts without increasing costs to members.

Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie said the idea emerged following discussions with representatives from the Walkerville BIA about shrinking beautification budgets.

“The BIAs have a beautification budget. And so what used to happen years ago was the city would actually supply a lot of the flowerpots and the hanging baskets and that sort of thing,” McKenzie explained. “Unfortunately, it’s kind of been cut over the past two years. It was cut 50 per cent and then 100 per cent in some previous budgets. And so, I’ve said, ‘What is a way that we could start bringing some more revenue into the BIAs without having to go to their members?’ And this was something that kind of came up.”

Currently, parking meter revenue collected across Windsor flows into the city’s general revenues.

McKenzie said one option could see a small percentage of revenue generated from meters within BIA boundaries redirected to those districts.

“I’m not saying 50 per cent of the revenue should go to the BIAs. But, you know, I think five to 10 per cent — I think that’s fair,” he said.

McKenzie noted all four BIAs in his ward have parking meters, as does the Downtown Windsor BIA. He suggested the approach could encourage consistency citywide.

“If you want to be fair and equitable, well, maybe they all should have meters,” he said. ”And maybe this will incentivize some of those other BIAs to put meters in as well.”

McKenzie acknowledged parking fees can be unpopular, but argued customers may be more accepting if they see visible improvements in return.

“I understand nobody wants to pay for parking. I wish parking could be free all over the place. But I think also, the customer can then see a return in that investment as well,” he said.

He added the broader question for council will be whether the move would discourage visitors or potentially help attract more people to commercial districts.

“Are we in favour of this or aren’t we? Because, you know, is it going to deter people or are we actually going to bring in more revenue, which would then be able to help the BIA and possibly bring even more people here if we can put those funds towards something that’s going to attract people to the BIA,” McKenzie said.

Matt Woods, a board member with the Walkerville BIA, said the concept has been discussed informally for years.

“That’s something interesting. We’ve been talking about that for a few years. Like not as in ‘What’s our cut on this thing?’ But, ‘How does this whole thing happen?’” Woods said. “So to get some sort of like a kickback really would help everybody.”

Woods described Walkerville as a smaller BIA with a limited budget, saying additional funding could support streetscape maintenance, beautification, and events.

“We’re a small budget BIA. Because we’re not a huge footprint as a BIA but anything is going to help us — beautification, free events, anything like that,” he said. “We have a lot of public amenities, trash, other things that we need to kind of like pick up and take care of like that really need some help and support. So that 10 per cent is a good chunk.”

McKenzie told CTV News he hopes a report will be brought before a future council meeting for consideration sometime this spring.