SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Surfside Beach town leaders say new parking rates have not taken effect, despite updated signage mistakenly posted last week.
Town Administrator Micki Fellner confirmed the error to News13 on Monday.
“The new rates were mistakenly posted on March 1, but we rolled them back to last year’s rates on March 2,” she said in an e-mail to News13 Anchor Meghan Miller.
Surfside Beach Town Council will vote Tuesday night on second reading of an ordinance to increase parking fees in several of the town’s lots.
The proposal would increase rates at pier parking pay stations from $1.50 to $2 per hour. It would also apply a 50 cent increase to all other parking lots, meters and pay stations – raising hourly rates in those areas to $1.75. Value parking in the 13th Avenue South parking lot is established at 50 cents per hour.
According to the ordinance, daily charges would also go up. The ordinance proposes to increase daily charges from $8 to $10.
The town has also proposed establishing free one-hour parking on Surfside Drive.
Mayor Doug Samples says the goal of the changes is to increase parking revenue for the town. He says the money helps fund land purchases, tourism-related expenses and the pier enterprise fund.
The ordinance must pass two readings by the Surfside Beach Town Council.