CHICAGO -- Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley Wednesday unveiled a plan for the municipal parking system that would keep the asset under city control as an alternative to a controversial proposal to lease it to the local port authority for an upfront cash payment.
Cranley, a municipal bond attorney, won office in November after campaigning in part on a deal to kill the parking privatization deal.
That deal, which has been on hold since Cranley’s victory, called for the city to lease its parking system to the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority for an upfront cash payment of $85 million, plus annual payments.
The port authority had planned to sell $130 million of bonds to finance the lease.
Cranley’s new plan calls for the city to retain ownership of the system and issue bonds to finance repairs and upgrades to meters. The lease agreement was akin to “stealing money from the future by monetizing assets and giving away revenue streams for 30 years and spending it all now,” Cranley said at a press conference Wednesday announcing the new plan.
“Public assets like parking meters should be controlled by the public,” said Cranley. “We have an existing budget crisis so we need, on a long-term basis, those revenues to balance our budget.”
The Cincinnati City Council could vote on the new proposal in two weeks.
Former Mayor Mark Mallory promoted the lease plan as way to raise money to pay off some of the city’s pension debt and plug a budget deficit projected at $21 million.
Cranley’s proposal would increase rates, extend hours, and improve enforcement in order to raise an additional $3 million in annual parking revenue.
It will cost the city $1 million to unwind the port authority deal, according to local reports.
