Board to review assessment linked to free downtown parking

City not going back to coin parking meters.

La Crosse’s Board of Public Works reviews the city’s downtown parking assessment at a meeting today. 

It’s the parking assessment that’s charged to downtown property owners in exchange for maintaining free parking on the streets.

That assessment would likely stop getting collected if the city moves to paid parking on the streets, which is already under consideration by downtown businesses.

Owners are charged $2.05 per $1,000 of property value – to a maximum of $1,500 per year. The total for the entire downtown business district comes to about $109,000.

The city’s parking utility coordinator has predicted paid on street parking could become an official proposal in the city as soon as next year.  

The assessment was originally put in place to make up for removing parking meters years ago.