Momentum builds to remove downtown Fort Smith parking meters

Fort Smith Director Christina Catsavis said Tuesday (July 15) that it’s time to permanently park the downtown Fort Smith parking meter discussion and move to a vote to remove the meters.

The issue was part of the Fort Smith board’s Tuesday study session. Several members of the board have in recent years called for removing the meters entirely, or developing more modern options — using phone apps, for example — instead of using coin-operated meters.

The board initially waived downtown parking meter fees between Nov. 24, 2023, and March 31, 2024, to study parking trends and habits. A report from the Fort Smith Police Department about the study period indicated that “parking meters may be removed with little to no impact to our businesses.”

After the report, the board decided to waive fees for the remainder of 2024. Following that, the board voted to waive fees between Jan. 7 and Aug. 1, 2025.

Following a brief presentation from Acting City Administrator Jeff Dingman about the waived parking fees, Catsavis said the data “clearly shows” that the city needs to get out of the parking meter business.

“I don’t know how many more times we can have this discussion,” Catsavis said. “We have bigger fish to fry.”

Following were financial points in Tuesday’s parking meter briefing.

• The city collected in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the last full years of metered parking, $61,695 and $68,481, respectively in meter revenues.
• Parking enforcement expenses totaled $96,746 and $103,002 in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Those totals include $94,805 and $99,462 of personnel expenses in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
• The personnel positions were transferred to the police department general fund budget for fiscal year 2025 in the original 2025 adopted budget. The remaining expenses of $1,941 and $3,540 in 2022 and 2023, respectively, were for operations and maintenance.
• The net cost of the parking enforcement program was $35,051 and $34,521 in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

“Removing this revenue source, and also removing the personnel expenses associated with enforcement and maintenance, will not negatively impact the overall operating budget for the city,” Andy Richards, the city’s chief financial officer, noted in a memo to Dingman.

Dingman said Sebastian County Judge Steve Hotz has asked for meters to remain around the courthouse. Fort Smith Police Chief Danny Baker said he believed a plan could be worked out so that the county maintains and enforces metered parking around the courthouse.

There was no expressed opposition from any board members to removing parking meters. A parking meter vote has not yet been set for a regular board meeting.