La Crosse board approves $175,000 fee on downtown businesses for police parking patrols

La Crosse’s Board of Public Works unanimously approved, Monday, a resolution for a $175,000 charge to operate and maintain the city’s downtown parking system.

For more than 40 years, drivers in downtown La Crosse have not had to use parking meters. They can park on the street free for a duration.

To help make up for the absence charging to park, the city set up a parking utility, where downtown businesses are charged yearly fees to help pay for parking patrols.

According to La Crosse assistant police chief Jason Melby that charge may be $175,323.89 to offset part of a $1.3 million cost in 2025.

“The $175,000 does offset some of the expense,” Melby told the La Crosse board of public works on Monday. “We do have staff that patrol the downtown curbline on a regular basis.”

Melby added that the use of the downtown parking ramps has gone down sharply in recent years, apparently because more people work from home now, so the city collects less money in fees than in the past.

The city also began charging full time for ramp parking in October of last year. It used to be free for the first three hours. Downtown street parking is free for two hours.

The parking assessment in La Crosse dates back to 1982, when parking meters were removed from the downtown streets. The board approved the latest assessment plan on Monday.