Starting in March of next year, the city of Columbia will roll out new rates and fines for downtown street and garage parking.
Columbia City Council approved the rate increase last week in a 6-1 vote. Officials said they plan to use the new revenue to pay for infrastructure and maintenance and repairs, in addition to enhancing aesthetics and operations, such as upgraded cameras and parking garages and expanded electric vehicle charging stations.
City parking changes include:
- First hour free in all city parking decks
- On-street parking is $1.50 per hour, up from .75 cents
- Hospitality rooftop-only parking for $35 per month
- No enforcement of street parking on Saturdays (except for the Five Points District)
- City-wide street parking enforcement from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday
- Overtime parking tickets will increase to $25, up from $8
- Meters will be replaced with parking kiosks
More fees and fines can be found on the city's parking website: parking.columbiasc.gov.
With the hikes, the projected revenue in a five-year period is about $11 million, according to the Post and Courier. Without the increases, officials said in a meeting last month that the city would raise about $261,000.
"A number of projects will take place immediately, with others projected over the next few years," a press release said.

The city said it raised the rates for the first time in some 20 years, in part, to keep up with growth and needs and mirror fees in other growing cities, like Charleston and Greenville.
Though the new rate hike takes effect around March 1, 2025, the city will offer a grace period so residents, visitors and businesses have enough time to learn the rates.
City Councilwoman Aditi Bussells was the lone "no" vote.
In a Nov. 26 Facebook post, Bussells said she backed raising parking fines.
But she said raising fees without discussing ways to make the city more pedestrian-friendly, the potential negative impact on local businesses and a poor communication roll out of the increases altogether were reasons to vote against the package.
"Ultimately I do believe that our parking system needs to be enhanced and hope that with the recent increases and changes we will continue to improve how we serve our community," she wrote.
One enhancement, according to city leaders?
Council members said the rate increase will help the city get rid of the old coin-fed meters, and give drivers a better option of paying by credit card at parking kiosks.
"I’ve got to tell you, parking meters downtown are ugly-looking and getting rid of those, and (having a) centralized parking meter, you know for a block, utilizing the app,” Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann told WIS-TV.
