Pioneer

Issue date: 6/4/09 Section: Campus

Media Credit: Stacy Wagoner Huge cracks break through the asphalt in the North parking lot. Next year, students chose how much they pay for repairing and repaving the hazardous potholes.

Fee increase proposed to help pay for parking lot repairs

It doesn't take an associate's degree for students to notice the bumps and cracks scattered throughout the parking lots on campus. These nasty potholes and root heaves not only cause a potential hazard for students and their cars, but also could cause a bit of a bump in student fees for next year - along with an anticipated 7 percent heave in tuition.

District officials have identified more than $2 million in repairs needed at both the Fort Steilacoom and Puyallup campuses. Although students pay a comprehensive fee to help maintain the parking lots, it is not nearly enough to cover the costs.

"Currently, 70 percent of the student comprehensive fee goes to parking, while the remaining 30 percent pays for graduation, transcripts, student kiosks and student ID cards," Joann Wiszmann said, the college district's director of administrative services.

However, a large portion of that 70 percent has gone to pay for campus safety salaries. "While these are appropriate costs to charge to the parking fund, it does not leave enough money in the account to repair and maintain the parking lots," Wiszmann said. "We're trying to develop a revenue stream that will provide enough funds for both the immediate and on-going repairs."

The administration slowly has been phasing out the campus safety costs from the parking fund, but recently decided to accelerate the process by $30,000 annually.

In addition, Wiszmann said that a one-time expenditure of $520,000 will be used from the college's reserve fund to repair the most critical areas next year, which are repairs to the North Lot of this campus. Costs for the remaining repairs at both schools then will be spread out over the next six years.

Those costs average $281,000 annually, more than what the comprehensive fee and parking fines generate each year, even with the phasing out of campus safety salaries.



The proposals for more revenue

"Faculty, classified and exempt employees would authorize an employee parking fee that would be at least equal to the amount paid by students, and possibly a little more," Wiszmann said. At about $18 per quarter, this would raise about $45,000 per year.

Wiszmann states that students pay the comprehensive fee at a rate of $1.50 per credit, up to ten credits. The maximum amount a student pays for the comprehensive fee under this structure is $15, with $10.50 going towards parking. 

Increasing the fee to about $18 per student per quarter will generate another $20,000 per year, Wiszmann said, adding that there are several options on how to do this.

"One idea would be to extend the comprehensive fee credit limit to 15 credits or charge a fee to all credits without a limit. Another idea is to make a slight increase in the comprehensive fee rate, which has not been increased since fall of 2000," Wiszmann said.

However, college officials cannot increase the comprehensive fee on their own. That can occur only by a vote of the students.

The same is true with staff and faculty, whose negotiated contracts provide free parking, a fact that no doubt will be a key consideration for students when asked to increase a fee while facing a 14 percent increase in tuition over the next two years.



Response to the proposals

Curt Warmington, a member of the faculty union's executive board and a member of the parking committee, said that he sees a wide variety of opinions among faculty.

"Some people said, 'No I don't want to pay, I'd rather walk;' some said, 'Yes we should support the students and pay our fair share,'" Warmington said. "It's reasonable that some don't want to pay because it is one of the benefits that offset the salary levels that aren't as high as they could be. But, I don't think students should be paying for the whole burden."

On the other hand, Marjo Burdick, who represents the staff on the parking committee, said that in the past when discussion of creating a parking fee has come up, the staff opposed it.

"With the economy woes and the fact that classified staff will not be getting a cost of living adjustment for the next two years, I'm not sure where they might stand," she explained. "I'm really not sure what it would take to convince them."

Chris MacKersie, district director of safety and security and the chair of the parking committee, said he is looking for some kind of fee from the employee side that has parity with students. He also feels positive about a student response towards the proposal.

"I think it'll be good because we're looking for a way for the absolutely least impact on them," MacKersie said.

Walt Sommers, director of student programs, is unsure whether students will be inclined to vote for an increase in parking fees.

"I really can't tell," Sommers said. "Students won't be using the roads for such a long period of time like the staff and administration will, but I think they will happy just to not trip over roots in the parking lot."

Lauren Gillison, student government campus affairs senator who also is on the parking committee, thinks that while the students may not completely oppose the idea, more convincing may be needed in order to get them to vote for the increase.

"I feel that the majority of students would say yes to fixing the parking lot, because if it doesn't, someone is going to get injured," she said. "There have been students that have come to me about complaints about the parking lot."



What repairs needs to be done

MacKersie believes that the first step would be to focus on fixing the North Lot at the Fort Steilacoom campus, where the tree roots have caused the pavement to heave, creating a tripping hazard.

"The tree's roots are surfacing and traveling over the surface of the road," he said.

The second repair on the priority list is the bus routes at both the Fort Steilacoom and Puyallup campuses. Because buses are allowed more weight per axle than other vehicles, they cause more damage to non-reinforced pavement. 

"In both cases the pavement shows alligator cracking and it has begun to break," Wiszmann explained. "Soon this will result in potholes that will continue to grow larger as more cars drive over them."

Along with the bus route the third priority would be to repair a variety of other cracks and degraded curbs before they become potholes or tripping hazards.

The final priority, which may take several years to complete, is to overlay the lots with fresh asphalt. This would extend the life of the lots for a significant amount of time and greatly reducing the ongoing repair costs. 

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