City Council approves updates to parking permits, citation penalties

The public parking lot off Orchard Street in the city of Cortland. (Photo provided by Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).

The City of Cortland Common Council on Tuesday approved new parking regulations regarding permits for downtown residents and employees, as well as a new list of penalties for parking citations.

The council sent a local law for review to the city’s board of public works. The board then encouraged the city to use the following municipal lots for permitted parking:

1. Groton Avenue Parking Lot (23 Groton Ave.)
2. Clinton Avenue Parking Lot (27-29 Clinton Ave.)
3. Orchard Street Parking Lot (9 Orchard St.)
4. Central Avenue Parking Lot (22 Central Ave.)
5. Main Street Parking Lot (72 Main Street)
6. Ames Parking Lot (17 Court St.)
7. Port Watson Street Parking Lot (16-22 Port Watson St.)
8. Youth Bureau Parking Lot (35 Port Watson St.)
9. Williams Street Parking Lot (143-145 Williams St.)
10. Dexter Park Parking Lot (4 Franklin St.)

The city will offer several types of permits, including parking permits for downtown residents, which allows for parking all day and overnight at any municipal lot listed above. There are permits for a month, three months, six months, or a full year.

Here is the price breakdown for the resident parking permit:

1. $30 (One month)
2. $90 (Three months)
3. $180 (Six months)
4. $360 (Twelve months)

The city will also offer day passes for downtown employees between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Those day passes can be purchased for either a month’s duration, or six months. The night downtown passes follow the same guidelines as the day passes, except for the hours in which parking is allowed -- 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Below are the costs of day and night passes:

1. $25 (One month)
2. $120 (Six months)

The city clerk’s office will be the point of contact for residents seeking more information on downtown parking. The office can be reached at 607-758-84331. 

Cortland mayor Scott Steve will also employ help from a different city department to help manage the program.

“I asked the deputy chief of police to help implement this off the ground completely,” he said.

Fines

The council also updated a list of citation penalties for its electronic parking ticket system approved last December.

See the list of fines below:

Fines chart. (Photo provided by the city of Cortland)

“We are moving up the fines based on other surrounding communities,” Steve said. “The new system is going to be great because it is going to help us get those fines back.”

Steve said the city is owed around $250,000 in delinquent fees accrued over the last 10 years.