John Dorosh, chairman of the city’s Parking Authority, and Leo P. Moscato, Jr., the authority’s director, sat down with the Valley Independent Sentinel to answer questions about the recent increases.
The wide-ranging conversation switched at points, to the status of the aging garage, where, in some spots, large salt deposits, of all things, can be seen sticking through the decking.
Dorosh and Moscato took the questions personally, as they both own property in the downtown business district.
Valley Independent Sentinel: How did the authority notify the public about the increases?
John Dorosh: The proposed increase was posted on the agenda of the November meeting of the Parking Authority.
Leo Moscato, Jr.: I believe it even read ‘increased meter rates,’ so it was cut and dry.
Dorosh: The agendas are always posted on the Electronic Valley, Derby’s Web site.
Valley Indy: Why didn’t you do a Derby mailing to let people know?
Moscato: We can’t afford right now to put notices in the paper. We can’t afford right now to have foot patrols going to every business telling them.
Dorosh: The people that use our services are, basically, not city residents. They are out of town residents. I’d say 80 to 90 percent are non-residents. Most people are connected to the court house or they’re associated with TEAM, adult probation and the Parent Child Resource Center.
With the meter increase, we went from 50 cents and hour to 75 cents an hour. The meters are in place for short-term parking only. Our goal is to get long-time parking into the garage. That’s why there is a two-hour maximum on the meters.
Valley Indy: Why the increase?
Moscato: Without the garage, you have 10,000 extra cars on the street a month. You have your streets jammed. What happens to the downtown then?
We’ve spent money on new lighting. We have a new security system. We painted the walls on the inside to reflect the light. We put in new stairwells. We did $120,000 in pothole repairs. There used to be trees growing out of the upper deck.
We’ve made a big investment since 2006. We’ve spent $300,000 on things you can touch, see and feel.
Dorash: When we came in, the stairwells were like rivers when it rained. We replaced roofs.
Valley Indy: So this is why you raised the rates?
Moscato: Yes, but not dramatically. We didn’t double or triple anything. We’re talking another quarter.
Dorash: We’re about half of what a big city charges. I realize we’re not New Haven, but we can strive for that.
Moscato: I am going to keep drilling this point — the taxpayers of Derby do not pay for this building. That has to be in big letters, in big print.
Dorash: The real misconception is among townspeople, because most Derby residents do not use the garage. People do not realize there are 300 to 400 cars in here every day.
Valley Indy: How much work is needed at the garage?
Moscato: Look, if we could get one big grant to make repairs, I’m thinking rates would go down. Sheila O’Malley (Derby’s economic development director) is trying to get grants.
Dorash: The last estimate we had, sometime last year, was about $1.5 million for a complete refurbishment. But, as every month goes by, the structure, without care, gets worse.
Valley Indy: How is the structure now?
Moscato: The structure now, for the most part, is aged. It needs a lot of repair.
Dorash: The steel is fine. It’s the decking that needs repairs. That’s where you get your major problems. Water seeps through. Pieces of concrete come down.
Valley Indy: How often does that happen?
Moscato: Once a year you’ll hear a chunk fall or I’ll see a chunk on the ground.
Dorash: Most of the time when that happens it’s at the end of a decking, where water puddles. Any areas we thought were an immediate danger were taken care of using emergency repair money.
Valley Indy: Did you do that recently?
Dorash: Within the last six months.
Valley Indy: What’s your total operating budget?
Moscato: Our total operating budget — and this is probably within $5,000 — is about $245,000.
Dorash: That’s what we budget for every year, but we’ve been over that because of major repairs.
Valley Indy: How many employees do you have?
Moscato: We have eight employees, all part-time. We’ve got guys like MarkAnthony Izzo in the booth. People know him. They love him.
Dorash: We should also mentioned that in addition to the increase — we cut back. We didn’t give raises. We cut back on ours of our employees. We did a study to see when we were busy. We cut back the hours on some days.
Moscato: We saved about $14,000 a year.
Dorash: We’ve taken steps on our end to save money. Our fixed expenses, UI, utilities — we can’t stop paying those. The only areas we could cut was hours.
Moscato: You think we wanted to go up a quarter? We had to.
