During the January 30, 2025 Faculty Senate meeting, a constituent concern was raised regarding the parking permit rates being increased disproportionately to salary increases.
During the January 30, 2025 Faculty Senate meeting, a constituent concern was raised regarding the parking permit rates being increased disproportionately to salary increases.
Comments
I want to put forward two communications we have received; the first is from Transportation Services and the second was provided to us jointly from Victoria Murray, AVP, Public Safety, Business Affairs and Operations and Cody Wilson, Director of Transportation Services.
-Matt Hudelson,
Executive Secretary, WSU Faculty Senate
Faculty representative to the WSU Parking and Transportation Task Force
From Transportation Services:
The Washington State University Parking and Transportation Task Force is receiving public comment regarding a proposed three-year parking rate increase on annual, daily, and hourly parking rates. The rate increase would be equal to the CPI, or 3% per year, whichever is less. If implemented, the rate increase will take effect July 1, 2025, for the Pullman campus. Please visit the Proposed Parking Permit Rate Increase webpage for additional details regarding the proposed rates.
This rate increase is to keep up with the rising cost of labor and materials to ensure critical deferred parking maintenance can continue to be addressed. In the last three fiscal years, WSU Transportation Services has expended over $3 million for parking maintenance. An additional $4.5 million is allocated over the next three fiscal years. These projects include repairs for surface parking lots, parking garages and elevators.
The comment period will be open through Feb. 16. Comments can be submitted via email to transportation@wsu.edu. At the completion of the comment period, the Task Force will review and consider comments regarding the proposed parking rate increase.
Transportation Services is a self-supported auxiliary and does not receive federal, state, grant, or tuition funding. Revenue for capital projects, maintenance and operations comes solely from parking fees and fines. Transportation Services is tasked with financing, managing and maintaining parking facilities as well as facilitating and promoting transportation options on the WSU Pullman campus.
The main objective of the Task Force is to have an established internal review process that provides WSU with a campus wide perspective and broad representation on parking and transportation issues.
Parking patrons are encouraged to consider alternative transportation options rather than driving alone such as biking, walking, transit, carpooling, etc. For more information and personal assistance regarding alternative transportation options, please visit the Coug Commute Advisor program webpage.
From Vicky Murray and Cody Wilson:
Leslie Brunelli forwarded your email regarding a constituent concern with parking rates and the process for setting rates. I am happy to provide the following information.
Parking rates are established by the individual campuses, rather than centrally. WSU Pullman, Spokane, Tri-Cities, and Vancouver each have their own processes and rules codified in WACs 504-15, and 504-14, 504-13, and 504-19, respectively. WSU Everett partners with Everett Community College to manage the parking process for their campus.
On the Pullman campus, Transportation Services is a self-supported auxiliary unit and does not receive any state or tuition funding. The costs for staffing, day-to-day operations, maintenance of lots and garages, and capital projects are funded solely with revenue from parking fees and fines. The University Parking and Transportation Task Force serves in an advisory capacity to Transportation Services. The Task Force has broad representation that includes students, faculty, and staff, and they provide guidance, review and perspective for many parking and transportation issues, including parking rates.
The process for establishing parking rates starts with an internal budget review and analysis by staff and leadership. Among the many factors considered are staff planning levels, state mandated salary and minimum wage increases, benefit costs/increases, operational costs, maintenance plans, capital projects and reserves, along with any opportunities for reducing and saving on costs. This budget information and rate projections are presented to the Task Force for review and feedback. This year, the Task Force unanimously recommended a rate increase of either 3% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is lower. The discussion centered around the need for steady but modest increases to meet standard inflationary costs, rather than the larger increases that were required in recent years due to very minimal or no adjustment to the rates over several years. The table below illustrates the variation in historical rate increases:
Fiscal Year Increase (%)
2016 1.90
2017 0.00
2018 0.00
2019 0.00
2020 3.10
2021 0.00
2022 10.00
2023 10.00
2024 4.50
2025 10.00
2026 TBD
The next step in the rate setting process is to solicit feedback from stakeholders. This year, the comment period runs through February 16th, and comments can be submitted by email to transportation@wsu.edu. We welcome all comments, and they will be shared with the University Parking and Transportation Task Force as part of the decision-making process. Once the Task Force has had an opportunity to consider the comments received, a recommendation on the rates will be made to Chancellor Cillay, who has the authority to approve or reject.
If approved, the rate impact next year to the holder of an Orange permit (the most expensive) would be about $2.45 per month, while the impact to the holder of a Blue permit (the least expensive) would increase by about 36 cents per month. This assumes a 3% increase, though it may be lower, depending upon the CPI.
Thank you for the opportunity to explain the process. Please know that we are happy to answer any additional questions you may have.