Marlborough motorists spend $1.2m on parking

Motorists in Marlborough forked out nearly $1.2 million on parking last year, a new report shows.

The Marlborough Roads report, presented to the council on Tuesday, also revealed only $5000 of the total parking revenue came from the new pay-and-display parking at the Blenheim Railway Station.

The car parks, once popular with town centre workers, were converted from free parking to pay-and-display in March last year.

Councillor Jamie Arbuckle said at the community and finance committee meeting on Tuesday the parks were ‘‘not very productive’’, and questioned if they were necessary.

The yield from the railway station car parks was small considering the cost of the new metering machines, worth more than $10,000 each, Arbuckle said.

Council property and community facilities manager Jamie Lyall said the pricing of the railway station parks was something to consider.

Any change to the car park pricing would have to come through council, Lyall said.

The annual parking report revealed $374,358 was raised from car parks in Picton and Blenheim. Kerbside parking brought in about $540,000.

Separate information from the council revealed the Alfred St parking building brought in an extra $100,825 for the council, and car park leases in the building brought in an additional $160,000. The total parking revenue was more than $1.17m.

Two motorists wrote in separate letters to councillors last year they were frustrated the council had taken away free parking on Blenheim’s fringes, with one describing the council’s attitude to parking as ‘‘vindictive’’.

However, councillor Laressa Shenfield said in December last year Blenheim’s car parking rates were among the lowest in the country, and the council did not make a profit from parking.

There was $9m of debt associated with the council’s parking account, including depreciation, and around $6m of the debt was associated with the multi-storey Alfred St car park building.

A full parking review to be released in November would recommend 344 parking meters in the Blenheim town centre be replaced at a cost of $300,000.

The report released on Tuesday also said Armourguard Security reported four incidents of people abusing their parking wardens in Marlborough this year.

On one occasion a warden was assaulted with a vehicle, but no further details about the incident were available.

The report also revealed traffic infringements in Marlborough generated more than $470,000 last year, but this was still shy of the council’s estimate for the year.

Nearly $235,000 was raised from infringements which had not gone through the courts, and more than $239,000 was raised from infringements through the court system.

Lyall said the fines shortfall was caused by wardens handing out warnings for offences such as not having an up-to-date warrant, rather than issuing infringement notices straight away.

‘‘It’s to try and build up customer relations.’’

The council’s estimate of $565,000 was based on the usual annual infringement rate, Lyall said.

All it took for a fine to enter the court system was for someone not to pay on time, and very few infringements were formally challenged, Lyall said.

The warning system had been in place for more than 12 months and was working well, Lyall said.