Faced with rising costs and revenue shortfalls due to slower than anticipated enrollment growth, Sacramento State will raise parking fees beginning Jan. 1, 2009.
It is the University’s first student parking fee increase in 5½ years.
Current fees would be insufficient to offset expenses, including higher gas prices, contractually mandated increases in salaries and benefits, as well as the debt payments required for the construction of Parking Structure III. The debt payments for the new structure alone added $1.88 million in expenses for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
Sacramento State completed Parking Structure III in 2007 to alleviate parking shortages for students, faculty, staff and visitors. The financial plan for the project was based on 2 to 3 percent annual student enrollment growth, which would also increase permit sales. However, enrollment has not grown as quickly as anticipated.
University Transportation and Parking Services, which administers the parking program, is by law a self-supporting unit that receives no funding from the state. Therefore, UTAPS’s sole source of revenue for parking operations, construction, maintenance and safety is sales of parking permits.
“Since our last increase in Fall 2003, costs have increased for us just like they have everywhere else. The new parking fees will enable us to keep up and pay the debt on Parking Structure III,” says Stephen Garcia, the University’s vice president for Administration and Business Affairs. “To help our students, we held down the fees as long as possible by tapping into our parking fund reserves.”
The new fee also will ensure that Sacramento State remains in compliance with the net-income-to-debt ratio required by the California State University Board of Trustees. Dropping below the ratio could jeopardize the campus’ ability to secure debt for future non-state-funded projects.
Parking fees will be as follows beginning Jan. 1 or with the purchase of a Spring 2009 semester permit:
Students (including residence hall students) – increase from $24 a month to $34 a month (from $108 a semester to $153 a semester), with an additional 2 percent added each year beginning 2010.
MPP (managers) and unrepresented employees – increase from $34 a month to $44 a month with an additional 2 percent added each year beginning 2010.
Deans – increase from $69 a month to $85 a month with an additional 2 percent added each year beginning 2010.
President’s Cabinet – increase from $100 a month to $120 a month with an additional 2 percent added each year beginning 2010.
Faculty – $15.39 a month, as set by collective bargaining agreements.
Staff – $15.06 a month, as set by collective bargaining agreements.
Daily permit – increase from $5 to $6 a day.
Parking fees will be as follows beginning Sept. 1, 2009:
Residence Hall students—increase from $34 a month to $44 a month (from $153 a semester to $198 a semester) with an additional 2 percent added each year beginning 2010.
UTAPS also serves the campus community by supporting opportunities for alternative modes of transportation, including the Hornet Express Shuttle, issuance of student commuter passes and sale of employee commuter passes to ride Sacramento Regional Transit light rail and buses.
