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Home My WebLink AboutIR 9807 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9807 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 29, 2015 h�T�i7� r%4 Page 1 of 4 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: MUNICIPAL PARKING FUND — CURRENT INVENTORY, rrn UTILIZATION AND IMPACT OF ADJUSTING FARES FOR PARKING GARAGES AND SURFACE LOTS In response to Council discussion concerning the Municipal Parking Fund this Informal Report provides information on the current Parking Garages and Surface Lots managed by the Fund in terms of the number of parking spaces, the utilization of those spaces and the impact of adjusting fares on Fund revenue. The Municipal Parking Fund maintains and manages parking facilities that comprise garages, surface lots and on-street metered parking spaces. In total there are 10,902 spaces of which 8,193 are associated with Garages and Surface Lots. A break-down of these Garage and Surface Lots spaces are provided in the following table along with revenue generation since FY 2011 . Revenue Center # of FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 % Change Spaces FY2011-2014 WRMC Parking 5,800 $2,188,281.14 $2,321,287.00 $2,453,095.15 $2,262,067.23 3.37% Houston St. 1,054 $1,197,145.57 $1,254,189.00 $1,519,302.87 $1,629,199.06 36.09% Garage Commerce St. 750 $501,417.20 $461,665.61 $421,874.19 $541,265.25 7.95% Garage Taylor St. 342 $313,251.32 $278,521.26 $340,102.37 $338,072.55 7.92% Garage Surface lots - 247 $108,175.52 $104,082.01 $107,845.69 $104,307.02 -3.58% Employee Total 8,193 $4,308,270.75 $4,419,744.88 $4,842,220.27 $4,874,911.11 13.15% To better understand the utilization of these spaces the following breakdown is provided since the facilities are intended to serve different parking demand purposes. PARKING UTILIZATION WRMC Parking System Utilization The parking facilities at WRMC are primarily intended to serve the various events that occur at the facility and visitors to the adjacent Museums. In addition to events and daily parking at these facilities, employee parking is provided. The current supply of parking is sufficient to handle many events except the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Other large events such as trade shows and graduations occur at the complex and generate a large utilization of the existing parking spaces. Parking demand fluctuates based on the events occurring at the complex. The Colonial Golf event is one off site event that leases parking spaces to stage their volunteer parking, thereby increasing utilization and revenue. Due to the on-going structure of event bookings, most third party users cannot be accommodated because of the number of available spaces or ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9807 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 29, 2015 h�T�i7� r%4 Page 2 of 4 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: MUNICIPAL PARKING FUND — CURRENT INVENTORY, rrn UTILIZATION AND IMPACT OF ADJUSTING FARES FOR PARKING GARAGES AND SURFACE LOTS advance time requirements. An underlying management element of the parking facilities at the Complex is that parking use is reserved first for events booked at WRMC. If space exists during non-booked event times, the parking facilities are made available for offsite event use. Utilization of parking facilities at WRMC is event demand based and not directly driven by price. The Stock Show retains all parking revenue at the WRMC parking facilities, during the span of the show. However the Stock Show invests millions of its dollars into improving the WRMC facilities, as a gift to the city. In the last fiscal year that the City operated the Museum Lot, 36,689 vehicles parked in the lot. At today's parking rate of $10.00 per vehicle that same number would generate $386,890 per year. The City currently receives $12,000 per year from leasing the lot to the Museum of Science and History. The Western Heritage Garage (WHG) is kept in variable rate mode during peak parking times in order to offer the choice of a reduced parking fee based upon length of stay for guests visiting the WRMC and nearby Museums. Changing from variable rate to event mode would create additional incremental funds for the Parking System. Other potential revenue generators are to relocate horse stalls, set up at various times of the year, in areas that could instead be used to park vehicles. The draft master agreement for the New Event Arena anticipates the development of a final parking agreement that will ensure the ongoing viability of parking revenue to both the Parking Fund and Arena operations following implementation of the Parking Tax approved by voters. Commerce and Houston Garages These two garages were constructed to serve the events at the Fort Worth Convention Center and in the case of the Houston garage, to serve the Omni Hotel as well. A secondary parking purpose was to supply monthly parking for area employees, including the City Hall Government Complex. For each garage, a set aside number of parking spaces has been reserved for monthly contract parking to serve employees of the area (Commerce, 312 spaces or 46%: and Houston, 333 spaces or 32%). This number has been established based on demand tied to events held at the Convention Center and the resulting parking demand. The goal is to create a balance between both customer pools with flexibility to change parking users as events and demand increases from the Convention Center. Utilization of spaces in these garages is similar to WRMC and is driven by the size and frequency of individual events. For large events at the Convention Center, the two garages are 100 percent utilized. Increasing the ratio of monthly parking would increase overall utilization but create a negative impact to the availability of parking for large events at the Convention Center. Decreasing the price of daily parking at these garages for one-time users would not likely increase revenue since utilization is primarily tied to visitors to the Convention Center, the Omni Hotel and City complex and no other large destination venues exists within the vicinity. Decreasing the price for Convention Center event parking does not increase revenue since parking is at a premium and utilization for the existing facilities is high. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9807 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 29, 2015 h�T�i7� r%4 Page 3 of 4 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: MUNICIPAL PARKING FUND — CURRENT INVENTORY, rrn UTILIZATION AND IMPACT OF ADJUSTING FARES FOR PARKING GARAGES AND SURFACE LOTS Taylor Garage — Surface Downtown Parking Lots These parking facilities operate as monthly contract parking — primarily for City employees. Utilization for Taylor garage is 97 percent and 95 percent for the 8 surface lots. These utilization rates represent normal efficiency rates associated with ongoing turnover. Parking rates at these lots are market driven. The following table summarizes the average daily utilization of current Garage and Surface Lot parking facilities versus number of total spaces. Parking Location/Type Number of % Daily Spaces Revenue Generation Utilization WRMC Parking System 5,800 32% Houston Garage 1,054 66% Commerce Garage 750 58% Taylor Garage 342 97% Surface Parking Lots — Downtown 247 95% Total 8,193 45% Conclusion Given the current supply of parking spaces, the ability to increase parking revenue is primarily driven by increasing the demand. The majority of City parking spaces exist to service specific purposes - convention type activities and specific area business. Current parking rates charged at City facilities are similar to market rates charged at other facilities — commercial parking garages and other city convention facilities. For convention facilities, the overall attractiveness of the venue is important and the rates charged for patron parking can be a determining factor in selecting a venue. Today, the City charges a fee of$10 at the WRMC and $15 for special events at the Convention Center garages. In the case of monthly contract parking at City facilities, increasing the price will have similar impacts; if other options are available, individuals will choose to move, if no other options exist then they will likely pay the increase. The City's current monthly pricing structure for non- employees is comparable to market rates at other nearby facilities. Monthly parking rates in downtown facilities range from $5 to $125, at WRMC rates range from $5 to $45. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9807 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council September 29, 2015 h�T�i7� r%4 Page 4 of 4 �i �i7 Y *a SUBJECT: MUNICIPAL PARKING FUND — CURRENT INVENTORY, rrn UTILIZATION AND IMPACT OF ADJUSTING FARES FOR PARKING GARAGES AND SURFACE LOTS A detailed sensitivity analysis has not been performed on the impact of increasing parking rates at City facilities, but the following rates illustrate the maximum revenue impact that could be expected if current utilization levels remain constant. As discussed, lowering parking rates given the nature of City facilities would not drive greater utilization and an overall increase in revenue. Type of Parking Rate Increase Projected Annual Revenue Increase Event Parking — Pay on Entry Each $1 .00 Increase $108,000 Uses Monthly Contract Parking $5.00 $50,000 If you should have questions, please contact Douglas Wiersig at 817-392-7801 or Jay Chapa at 817-992-5804. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS