Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, and Members of Council-Elect:

With only two regular meetings left on the docket for this calendar year and pending parking fee and meals tax increases set to take effect on January 1, 2021, I ask you to reconsider the timing of those increases. Admittedly, the impact to the taxpayers’ pocketbooks from the meals tax hike is minimal, but in terms of the morale blow to restaurateurs already battered by the pandemic and likely in for still more battering as Trump Virus cases continue to rise globally, nationally, and locally, the prospect of the increase looms larger in their perceptions than the actuality. Similarly, the deferred parking rate increases could be a significant deterrent to patrons of downtown businesses generally, falling on customers who have been long accustomed to free night, weekend, and holiday parking in city garages and at meters. I would argue, as well, that the costs of enforcing the new parking levies could offset much of the anticipated revenue gain from their imposition. I would advise you to obtain an objective cost/benefit analysis before making this change. Again, in the context of the economic disruption this virus has wrought to date, imposing those fee increases now would be completely tone deaf. I urge you shelve them for reconsideration when we return to what we thought of as normalcy.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky