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University parking officials predict a gain in parking spaces for 1999-2000 and more use of a park-and-ride lot in northern Chapel Hill will offset a decrease in free transit passes allotted to employees.
The opening of the first phase of the Health Affairs Deck II parking deck on south campus this spring will bring a net gain of 775 spaces for employees.
Those extra spaces should help make up for 343 fewer free transit passes going to employee park-and-ride users in 1999-2000 because of a new distribution policy that officials hope will be more equitable to students, said Cheryl Stout, assistant director for parking services. Stout spoke at a March 3 Employee Forum meeting.
"I feel that there will be less of an employee demand for the park-and-ride," Stout said.
Stout also said that this year 442 free transit passes were allotted to employees for the "P Lot" park-and-ride lot on Airport Road/Estes Drive but only about 150-200 were used.
So overall the cut in park-and-ride passes actually used by employees will be only 50-100, although the decrease in individual lots could be greater.
The Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee approved a 1999-2000 distribution policy for the free park-and-ride transit passes based on commuting populations. The committee has employee, faculty and student representation.
Because University employees make up 32 percent of commuters, they will get 32 percent of the transit passes, or 552. That same formula will mean that students will get 53 percent of the passes and hospital employees 15 percent.
"This was my recommendation [to the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee] because it was the only distribution policy that I could come up with that I felt like had equity and could be explained to the entire University community," Stout said.
Distribution of passes for 1998-99 -- the first year for the free park-and-ride service -- came on a first-come, first-served basis. The service was approved late in the year and parking officials had to distribute passes as they "went along" because there had not been enough time to put a policy in place, Stout said.
"We were hoping of course that as many people that wished to have free park-and-ride could have it," Stout said. "As it turned out the program became more popular and there was not enough park-and-ride, so I ended up having to limit what I distributed so that there would be some for the returning student population."
Stout was able to hold only 26 percent of transit passes for students, prompting her to seek a more equitable distribution method through the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee.
"Students as well need to commute to campus, and many of the students depend on those park-and-ride lots," Stout said. "As we got into distributing [transit passes] and restricting them, they ended up just with what was left over, what I held out."
The new distribution policy will be in effect as employees register for parking in April and May for next year's permits, which take effect Aug. 15.
Stout also pointed out that parking permit fee increases in some lots for 1999-2000 will be part of phased-in increases approved by the Transportation and Parking Task Force in May 1998.
"There are no new price increases," she said. "These are all based on what the task force did in 97-98 and that was to bring up some of the surface lots that were not at prime market [prices]."
In other business at its March 3 meeting, the Employee Forum:
* Heard a report from Jim Ramsey, vice chancellor for finance and administration, on N.C. Gov. Jim Hunt's 1999-2000 state budget proposal.
According to Ramsey, the University could take a budget cut of more than $2.7 million if Hunt's spending plan becomes law.
Hunt has recommended a base budget cut of 0.5 percent for higher education, which at Carolina would mean $1.7 million.
The University's remaining reduction of "well over a $1 million" would come from cuts in the continuation budget, which pays for items that keep the University operating such as utilities.
Ramsey said the University will lobby to keep at least the amount in Hunt's budget for staff and faculty salary increases -- 3 percent with a chance for a 0.5 percent bonus. Hunt also wants to offer an additional 2 percent for faculty who demonstrate excellence in the classroom.
Hunt's proposal is just the first step in the budget process. State legislators play the leading role in crafting the budget and must pass a final spending plan.
* Elected Marsha Ray, fiscal manager in public safety, as forum secretary. She replaces Jennifer Henderson.
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