LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Starting January 1, Kentuckians will begin paying more at parking lots, garages and meters as part of a state mandated parking sales tax increase.
The increase could mean that Louisville's Parking Authority of the River City (PARC) could make $1 million more dollars next year.
Many drivers hope that the money will go toward new meters as they struggle to find parking in downtown Louisville.
Latoya Bradley, owner of Brew and Sip, says the last thing her customers need to worry about when picking up their coffee is where to park.
"It's frustrating," she said. "This is a continuous battle."
Bradley says the meters outside her downtown location on West Broadway stopped working several times over the last six months.
According to her, each time a customer pays at one, the meter stays on red.
"It deters business a whole lot because it does make you feel like you're wasting your money," Bradley said. "You know, how many of my customers have gotten tickets or haven't came back because of that? They're not going to address that with me, but I know that's an ongoing issue that we have."
A spokesperson with Louisville Forward said PARC is unaware of any broken meters, a team reportedly fixed the ones outside of Brew and Sip a month ago. However, Bradley says only a couple are working again.
Bradley's customers aren't the only ones impacted though, Louisville drivers say many of the meters along South Fourth Street don't have QR codes and don't work when you try to pay with coins or a credit card.
She and others hope a chunk of the money PARC receives from the increased parking rates will go toward new meters next year. Until then, Bradley says she needs to a quicker solution.
"If they gave me two meters, I can use two meters for my quick pickup," she said. "Give me the lot behind me. Something has to give. You can't ask a business to come downtown and not have parking for that business to be down here."
Louisville Forward says that drivers and business owners can report broken meters online.
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