Pottsville Parking Authority wants to raise the cost of spaces for Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad at the Union Station lot starting next year.
At their meeting last Friday, board members unanimously approved a motion to jack up the rates for 12 parking spaces leased by the railroad from $3,000 to $3,600 per year. That equates to a total of $300 per space per year, up from the previous rate of $250.
The spaces in question have a rail line running through them leading up to Union Station.
Parking Authority Executive Director Ian Lipton told board members Friday that the $3,000/year agreement has been in place since 2014. It’s a 10-year agreement that expires at the end of this year.
“It was a 10-year contract with no escalation costs,” Lipton told Parking Authority board members. “How that was done is a mystery to me, but it was done.”
The new contract that Parking Authority board members OK’d last week will raise that rate to a total of $3,600 for 2024 and 2025.
Lipton suggested to the board, and they approved, raising the rates after that in line with federal inflation rates.
The Parking Authority’s contract proposal will now be sent to City Council, which will have to finalize the agreement and get the deal done with the railroad.
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