Sacramento County officials consider renting out spaces to arenagoers

Sacramento County is planning to join the downtown parking profiteering racket.

On September 27, the board of supervisors will consider a request to turn two county-owned parking lots in the city of Sacramento’s downtown core into a full-time money-making operation.

The lots in question include a two-story public garage near Seventh and G streets, and the St. Joseph’s parking lot at Eighth and G, which is reserved for people serving jury duty at the nearby courthouse.

The two lots total 973 spaces that the county wants to pimp out during nonbusiness hours once the Golden 1 Center opens next month.

Right now, the county’s Department of General Services is only authorized to collect parking fees at the public garage five days a week, between 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., holidays not included. It costs $1.75 for 30 minutes and a maximum of $17.50 to park in the garage for the whole day.

The expansion from an approximately 12-hour, five-day-a-week model to a 24/7 one is anticipated to generate an additional $360,000 in annual revenue, according to a consultant’s estimate cited in a county staff report.

That’s a conservative estimate, a county spokeswoman noted.

The report didn’t settle on specific parking rates for the expanded hours. It noted the city has discussed charging between $10 and $25 for special-event parking. But given that the county-owned garage is a good four blocks from the new arena, the staff report says the county will adjust its event parking rates based on anticipated attendance figures “to maximize sales.”

The county would also advertize its garage and sell reserve spaces, at a 15 percent markup, through SacPark.org, the Golden 1 Center’s online reservation system.

Noncounty employees who have monthly parking permits for the downtown garage will either have to pay if they wish to park during the extended hours or can request to be reassigned, the staff report notes.