Higher parking rates at meters, pay stations delayed another month

By MARTIN WILBUR

There’s a little bit of unexpected good news for drivers who pay for parking in downtown Mount Kisco.

The higher parking rates that were originally scheduled to go into effect immediately after Labor Day may be delayed another month as the village awaits the arrival of new equipment.

Assistant Village Manager Ken Famulare said the meters that will charge 75 cents an hour, an increase of 25 cents per hour over the current rate, have failed to be delivered due to a “sourcing issue.” 

The latest estimate has the new meters being delivered in mid-October, then will likely take roughly another week to install. If that schedule holds, then it is expected the higher rates would go into effect on or about Nov. 1, he said.

“I’ve been told it’s another two weeks,” Famulare said of the delivery. “It would take a week to install, if not a little less than that.”

This summer the Village Board approved reinstating Saturdays where parking at street meters and in the municipal lots except for the North Moger parking lot. Paying for parking on Saturdays resumed the first week in August after it had been changed with the onset of the pandemic five years ago to entice shoppers to come downtown to help merchants.

However, the 25-cent per-hour increase — or 20 minutes per quarter instead of 30 minutes — was put on hold for a month until the equipment could be changed.

Mayor J. Michael Cindrich said while the village could reprogram the parking lot pay stations, it does not want to have two different rates in effect at the same time. Therefore, it will wait to adjust the pay stations until the meters are installed.

Paying for parking on Saturday was opposed by business owners and the Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce earlier this year, but their protests went unheeded. Initially, the Village Board had also proposed to extend the time when drivers would have to pay for parking by two hours, until 8 p.m. After protests from the business community, the board scrapped that idea and maintained the current hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.