SOUTHPORT — Paid parking in Southport may be on the horizon.
READ MORE: Southport residents weigh in on Waterway development, await critical vote by alderman
It was addressed at the Southport Board of Aldermen meeting on Monday, June 2. The board heard a presentation from Otto Connect, a potential vendor looking to aid the city in its implementation of paid parking zones. No vote was taken on the program.
“There are some of the board members that just want to focus on our downtown corridor in our right-of-ways and different areas we have control over,” Noah Saldo, Southport’s city manager, told Port City Daily Monday. “Another one of our board members is thinking more broadly to implement throughout the city.”
Otto has proposed 900 possible parking spaces, to be located through the downtown and Yacht Basin districts. Alderman Marc Spencer proposed extending the scope of this change to affect every right of way and city-owned property in Southport.
“This is sort of my baby,” Spencer said at the meeting. “It’s one of the options to get us out of trouble.”
The board’s assessment of paid parking began as an idea to create an alternate stream of revenue beyond property taxes, the largest contributor to the city budget, followed by sales taxes.
Spencer proposed the idea to the board as a method for funding infrastructure, such as road improvement, and public safety projects. Southport has many infrastructure needs to complete in its capital plan, yet the city is projecting a budget deficit.
As Port City Daily previously reported in February, Southport faces a $1.4-million deficit this fiscal year and would have a projected shortfall of $281,000 in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. These gaps are due to high inflation, increasing costs for competitive salaries and benefits, and funds that were lost when the city transferred its water and sewer control over to the county last year.
At the February budget meeting, former city manager Stuart Turille did propose several strategies to shore up funding, including a 1-cent increase to the ad valorem tax, reassigning 1 cent to the capital fund, lowering cost-of-living adjustments and suspending merit increases, and pulling from the city’s fund balance. However, the aldermen were not keen on the options presented; Turille resigned later that month.
Spencer, as a native of Southport, isn’t completely comfortable with paid parking, but said the city is “running out of options.”
“This a very deep subject, beyond just a parking meter,” he told PCD Tuesday. “You have people one mile outside the city limits who use us regularly and pay no tax. You have day trippers that come here every day from St. James, our local communities, that don’t pay. I’m wanting to make this more of a community environment where our neighbors use Southport and help us pay the bills, rather than soliciting or trying to entertain the tourists who might come here once every two or three years.”
Otto Connect uses a revenue-sharing model. Once a month, the company would take a 35% write-off of the revenue collected and transfer the remaining 65% back to Southport. The board envisions the money would go into the city’s general fund to be used on projects unrelated to parking — though this maneuver would require approval from the North Carolina General Assembly.
According to G.S. § 160A-301, using parking meters on public streets must be used to “defray the cost of enforcing and administering traffic and parking ordinances and regulations.” This means, while the board wants to use the proceeds raised for general city funding, they will need to apply for an exemption from the General Assembly to do so. In 2001, this exemption was granted to all of the municipalities in New Hanover County.
According to Spencer, he contacted Brunswick County’s Rep. Charles Miller to gauge approval of this exemption but has not yet received a response.
In Otto Connect’s proposal, CEO Jim Varner introduced permitting types, depending on parking space locations: premium, discount and residential. Guest parking would be available hourly or seasonally, he suggested. With the tourism needs of Southport, Varner suggested forgoing daily rates to support the turnover of vehicles in spaces.
Proposed rates:
- Premium: $5 per hour for up to two hours with one hour extensions for $5
- Discount: $3 per hour
- Seasonal: $175 per calendar season per vehicle
Proposed fines:
- Same day violation: $25
- Next day violation: $50
- If not paid within 30 days: $75 + $25 late fee submitted to collections
- Special violations: $250
“I would go for more of a parking permit city wide. Every right-of-way, every piece of property Southport owns would be regulated by a parking pass,” Spencer said at the meeting.
Additionally, he suggested residents receive permits for free.
Alderman Lowe Davis also was concerned about employees having to pay for parking at area businesses for whom they worked. Off-street parking spaces currently for many downtown businesses are used by employees who don’t have access to specific lots.
“I think that one of the things we need to think of as a board is that residents, business owners and their employees are free, period. If we don’t do that, I’m not going to support it,” Alderman Robert Carroll said.
To ensure fees would not be accrued by the employee directly, Varner said businesses would need to register their employees’ information with Otto Connect to receive parking at either a discounted rate or for free.
Otto would install parking signs, rather than have attendant booths, to connect customers directly to its website or mobile app for permit purchases and customer assistance. The estimated cost of sign installation is $20,000.
In addition, Varner said city staff would need to put up the signs and Otto Connect would provide the installation locations. If contracted by the board, implementation could potentially begin within two months following approval.
At its earliest, Saldo said the city would hope to see a full rollout of a paid parking program next tourism season, whether through this vendor or another. Otto Connect is the first vendor the board has considered; they are continuing to evaluate options before making any concrete decision.
“SurfCast by Otto is kind of the premier provider throughout the county and our neighboring county so that’s the one we started out with” Saldo said.
The company currently works with Holden Beach, Topsail and North Topsail beaches, Oak Island, Ocean Isle Beach, Varnamtown, and Sunset Beach.
“I think as we go down the road of looking at this we might want to see what other providers have to offer,” he added.
Spencer told PCD he didn’t favor Otto. He felt the price tag was too high for what Otto Connect could provide the city.
“What they’re offering us is a simple Python script that you can download for free and you can do what they wanted $350,000 for, so I’m not down with that,” he said.
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