Parking Meter Rate Hike Proposed : Revenue: Fees in the Central Business District would rise by 10 cents an hour. Proceeds would help pay for new parking facilities.

Parking meter rates in the Central Business District will rise by 10 cents an hour if the City Council votes, as expected, Tuesday to approve the first rate increase in five years.

Rates will be boosted to 50 cents an hour at street meters and 30 cents an hour at city parking lots.

The rate increase will take several months to implement because older meters in the downtown area must be replaced with computerized meters, Public Works Director George Miller said.

Council members this week modified a recommendation by the Transportation and Parking Commission that the hourly rate on all meters be increased to 50 cents. They said the jump would hurt downtown workers, who currently pay $1.60 a day for eight hours of parking at a long-term meter. The recommended rate would have increased the daily fee to $4, while the proposed rate will be $2.40 a day.

Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg said she will vote against the increase because it will also impose a 50-cent hourly fee on visitors who use the city’s Urban Garage in The Exchange without obtaining a validation from a merchant.

Bremberg said the current policy, which allows free parking in the garage for two hours, entices new visitors to the recently redeveloped two-block area, located on the east side of the 100 Block of North Brand Boulevard. The city sponsors promotional activities at The Exchange, such as the weekly Farmers Market, to increase patronage.

Redevelopment Director Jeanne Armstrong said it has not been determined whether only merchants and restaurants will be allowed to validate tickets or if businesses in The Exchange, such as Century 21, will also be given validation privileges. Armstrong said merchants asked for the fees to discourage motorists from parking in the city garage while they shop at the Glendale Galleria, half a block away. Galleria parking is free.

The increase is expected to boost parking meter revenues by $470,000 a year, which officials said is needed to pay for almost $14 million in proposed parking improvements, including a multilevel garage planned for the redevelopment zone at Harvard Street and Maryland Avenue. The garage is expected to cost $10 million.

Total annual parking revenues of almost $1.9 million would also be used to help pay for parking facilities at the city’s new Transportation Center at the former Southern Pacific Railroad Station and a proposed parking garage at the Montrose Shopping Park.

Officials said additional parking rate increases may be gradually imposed in the future. Higher rates would force more downtown workers to use public transportation, allow for a greater turnover of patrons to the downtown area and provide increased revenues for the city’s General Fund.