As part of the plan, several parking lots around campus will be gated to cut down on DPS's labor costs after losing revenue from parking tickets.
DPS Director Derek Poarch said that the money collected from parking tickets at UNC used to stay on campus but that now that money must be given to local schools. "If we're losing revenue, then we can't afford to continue at the same expense level," he said.
In December 2001, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled that administrative and civil fines collected by state agencies, which include money collected from parking violations at UNC, must be given back to the state to fund public education. The state is appealing the case.
Poarch said that by gating lots with a large number of parking violations, DPS will save money in labor costs because fewer parking officials will be needed to monitor the lots. DPS has frozen two vacant parking enforcement positions, Poarch said, and will eliminate those positions if the state loses its appeal. No employees will lose their jobs because of parking changes.
Cheryl Stout, assistant director of parking services, said the gates also will help keep parking spaces open for permit holders. "Gates prevent violators from getting in," she said. "A (parking) ticket doesn't give them that space freed up."
The DPS and Morehead parking lots already have been gated, and DPS plans to install gates at locations including the Porthole, 440 North and South, Cobb, Connor, Paul Green Theatre and Bennett parking lots.
The cost to install the parking gates varies depending on the type of gate that is installed and the amount of work needed in the lot, Stout said.
An automated gate like the one used in the DPS parking lot costs about $64,000, she said. A gate that includes a toll booth, like the one at the Morehead lot, costs about $111,000.
Stout said the price of parking permits in gated lots rose to help cover the costs of installing the gates. Faculty and staff permits that used to cost $331 per semester are now $436 per semester, she said. Student permits did not increase in price.
