St. Petersburg nearly doubles parking fines after unanimous City Council vote

Parking a few minutes too long in downtown St. Petersburg is about to cost almost twice as much. The St. Petersburg City Council voted unanimously Thursday, Oct. 15, to raise the fine for an expired meter or pay station from $17.50 to $32.50 and to add $15 to most other parking tickets, part of a package that also doubles the price of residential parking permits and the fee to remove a parking boot.

City leaders said the goal is to get drivers to move their cars when their time runs out and to free up spaces for customers of downtown businesses. Revenue from the higher fines will support the city's Safe Streets initiative, according to FOX 13.

What changes

The ordinance adjusts nearly every common citation. The fine for illegally occupying a parking space reserved for people with disabilities stays the same.

The fine for prohibited trailer parking rises by the same amount as the permit-area violation, according to the St. Pete Catalyst. For a driver who buys the monthly downtown permit every month, the change adds $60 a year, from $240 to $300. One early Bay News 9 report listed the new pay-station fine as $32; the ordinance as described by the Catalyst and FOX 13 sets it at $32.50.

Changes to residential permits

Beyond the price, the ordinance rewrites several rules for the city's residential parking permit program, according to the St. Pete Catalyst, whose reporting was republished by WUSF:

• Residents who live within one block of a permit area could qualify if the location and conditions of their property require them to park inside the zone.
• College students could prove residency with a student ID plus a lease or utility bill, instead of having to change their driver's license and vehicle registration to a local address.
• Permits would be valid for one year from the date they are issued, rather than expiring at the end of each calendar year.
• The city could issue digital permits in addition to, or in place of, windshield stickers.
• Residents with unpaid parking tickets would not be eligible for a permit until those debts are cleared.

Residential permits would still not be valid at paid spaces, in city-operated parking facilities, or where time limits are under two hours.

Why the city says it needs higher fines

Council member Richie Floyd said some drivers had been deliberately accepting tickets because a $17.50 fine was cheaper than paying for a long stay, according to FOX 13. At today's prices, that math is easy: one Bradenton visitor told FOX 13 he paid $2.75 for an hour downtown, and another visitor from Tampa estimated about $5 for two hours. The Bradenton visitor estimated a full day costs no more than $20, only a few dollars more than the old $17.50 ticket.

The pressure is concentrated along Central Avenue, where parking is scarce, according to Bay News 9. Supporters of the increase hope a steeper penalty will prompt drivers to move their cars when meter time expires. Council member Deborah Figgs-Sanders raised parking as a significant issue for downtown small businesses at a September council meeting, Bay News 9 reported.

Transportation and Parking Management Director Evan Mory wrote in a memo to the council that the changes align with the city budget approved Sept. 17, according to the Catalyst. The fee increases were folded into that budget before the ordinance itself came up for a vote.

How the vote came together

The proposal moved through City Hall over about seven weeks with little public resistance.

No one signed up to speak on the item at the first reading, according to the Catalyst. Under the city's normal process for adopted ordinances, the mayor has the opportunity to veto before the measure takes effect. The city had not publicly announced the date the new amounts will appear on tickets as of the latest reports, and drivers pay the current amounts until then.

Mixed reactions downtown

Visitors interviewed by FOX 13 after the vote generally described downtown parking rates as fair, though one said the time limits are frustrating. Critics of the package have argued that raising permit costs discourages people from driving downtown at all, Bay News 9 reported.

Olivia Gil, who works downtown, told Bay News 9 she already walks or rides scooters to work rather than pay for parking, and that on a recent trip to a downtown bakery her group spent about 15 minutes hunting for a space. She said she doubts the fines alone will fix the shortage, though they could be a start.

How St. Pete compares nearby

Even after the increase, St. Petersburg's expired-meter fine remains below what some neighboring beach towns charge. St. Pete Beach raised its expired-meter fine to $40 in 2022 and set its fine for parking in a residential permit area without a permit at $90, matching Treasure Island, according to Bay News 9. St. Pete Beach officials said at the time that the goal was to keep residential streets from filling with visitors' cars.

The council has also been looking at other ways to ease the crunch. In September, members unanimously asked the city's transportation committee to study whether autonomous delivery robots could serve downtown restaurants whose customers and workers struggle to find nearby parking, an idea that made progress two years ago before stalling, according to Bay News 9.

What's next

Once the ordinance clears the mayor's review, the city will set the date the new fines take effect and begin issuing permits under the revised residential rules, including the one-year term and digital permits. Residents who hold annual permits should expect to pay $30 at their next renewal. Money from the higher citations is slated for the Safe Streets initiative, and the city will be able to see whether the steeper penalties open up more spaces on Central Avenue.