SHAMOKIN -- If you park your car in Shamokin, plan on paying a little more at the parking meter come October. City council recently passed an ordinance to drop the amount of time a quarter is worth at most parking meters in Shamokin.
"Out of order" signs are posted on several parking meters in Shamokin. Blevins Ford said the meters are a source of frustration in the city.
"Most of them don't work. They'll work one day and the next day they won't work," said Ford.
Officials in Shamokin hope that will change in October. Councilman Craig Rhoades said that's when all 600 parking meters in the city will be replaced.
"In order to keep the meters functioning and the time accurate, we have to purchase new meters," said Rhoades.
Rhoades said the lifespan of a parking meter is ten years. He also said these were bought refurbished 15 years ago.
Shamokin spent more than $90,000 dollars to buy the new parking meters. To help pay for them, city council voted to change the amount of time a quarter is worth. Starting in October, 25 cents will get you a half-hour of parking instead of a whole hour. Rhoades expects the change to bring in an extra $30,000 a year.
"It's revenue the city needs to have," said Rhoades.
"I think it's just going to hurt us more than anything," said Bill Persing.
Persing is an assistant manager at Jones Hardware. He believes the drop in time will cut down on people's shopping time.
"Eventually people are going to start complaining or stop shopping," said Persing.
The ordinance goes into effect when the new parking meters are installed in October.