Rehoboth parking revenue falls $1 million short of budget

Rehoboth Beach fell nearly $1 million short of its budgeted number for parking revenue in the current fiscal year. Officials cite poor weather early and uncertainties created by actions in Washington, D.C., as factors. 

The city is down about $998,000 compared to the budgeted amount, and down about $647,000 compared to last year, said Brooke Thaler, city communications director, in an email Oct. 31.

Overall, parking revenue decreased 5%, from $10.6 million to $10.1 million, said Thaler. The largest portion of the decrease – $480,000 – was in the metered credit card revenue, she said.

“The early-season weather conditions impacted metered revenue,” said Thaler.

There was a decrease in parking permit revenue, from $1.32 million to $1.27 million, said Thaler. There was also a decrease in parking fine revenue, from $651,000 to $571,000, she said.

The city’s pay-to-park season runs annually May 15 to Sept. 15, and requires metered parking or a parking permit throughout commercial and residential neighborhoods.

Parking Supervisor June Embert provided more details on the recent parking season during her annual breakdown at the Oct. 17 commissioner meeting. She said the city has 198 meters covering 2,645 spaces. There were about 289,317 meter transactions and 594,383 pay-by-phone transactions, and the average parking duration was two hours.

Compared to 2024, said Embert, the metered parking area saw a decrease in coin revenue – $102,000 to $68,000 – and in credit cards – about $3.2 million to $2.7 million. However, she said, there was an increase in pay-by-phone – about $4.9 million to $5.1 million.

As for permits, Embert said the city has 4,196 permit spaces. There were 10,155 free permits issued to property owners and 1,454 free permits issued to business owners. Compared to 2024, there was a decrease in total permits sold from 14,236 to 13,830, she said.

Embert said there continue to be challenges related to unmarked driveways in the residential areas.

Looking forward, the city is working toward eliminating the use of hanging parking tags in spring 2027, said Embert. When that happens, all vehicles will be required to have a parking permit when parking in the city’s right-of-way, even in driveway spaces, she said.

The cost for implementing parking permits is $21,150 for software and implementation, said Thaler.

Another change coming could be the permanent closure of the Bandstand area during the city’s summer concert series.

Assistant City Manager Evan Miller said the city began closing the Bandstand to vehicular traffic at 6 p.m., Friday through Sunday, in 2024 under a section of code that allows the police chief to close areas because of emergency situations. Staff is recommending the closures at those specific times become permanent so staff can change signage and meters, he said, adding those recommendations will be back for more discussion in November.

Even with the decrease in the expected parking revenues, Thaler said it appears the city’s general fund revenue, which also includes property taxes, accommodations taxes and other sources of revenue, will be flat in relation to the prior year.

“This is a break-even year for us, and we expect to meet our expenses with revenues for FY26, said Thaler.