Why LexPark wants to increase rates for parking garages, introduce fines for damage
.jpg "The Victorian Square Parking Garage on West Short Street.")
Lexington drivers could see a slight increase in what they pay at the kiosk for some city parking garages.
LexPark, which manages on-street parking as well as four local garages, is seeking approval from the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for a slight increase in parking rates for those garages.
Currently, drivers are charged $1 per 18 minutes, which comes out to $4 per hour with a daily maximum of $12. The agency wants to charge drivers $3 for the first 30 minutes and $4 for each subsequent hour, up to a maximum charge of $19.
“I am not raising the hourly rate,” LexPark Executive Director Laura Boison told the council in an April 21 meeting. “This is a small adjustment.”
The council is expected to take a first vote on the rate increases in an April 28 meeting.
When LexPark began overseeing the city’s public parking in 2008 as a quasi-governmental agency, the council did not have authority over its rates.
That changed in 2022 after the Kentucky Legislature adopted a bill requiring council to have to approve any proposed rate changes. The bill was a response to LexPark’s controversial 2022 decision to raise on-street parking prices and eliminate free street parking on Saturdays.
After widespread blowback, Lexington officials and LexPark eventually came up with a solution to keep street parking free on the weekends while increasing the hourly rate, thanks to the city paying an additional $200,000 for city employees to park free at the Transit Center garage. The city argued the state bill was unnecessary overreach, but the legislature still passed it.
The mayor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 includes $372,200 for city employee parking in LexPark’s Helix, Transit Center, and courthouse garages. An additional $136,000 is allocated for police officer parking spots in the Helix Garage.
Boison told the council the garage rate increase was needed to help balance LexPark’s budget and maintain the structural integrity of its garages.
“We will spend, by June, $1.3 million of approximately a $15 million project to keep our garages competent,” she said. “It doesn’t add any space. It just keeps them able to be used.”
The average age of the agency’s four garages is 41 years old. The Helix Garage on Main Street is 61 years old. That high age means more regular maintenance is required to keep them in shape.
Boison cited other budgetary constraints, such as a $50,000 personnel increase to boost overnight security at the garages and a multi-year, $500,000 need to update the agency’s technology, including license plate cameras for garages and the agency’s street patrol vehicles.
“I cannot keep the buildings up. I cannot keep the security that is presenting a need for in these garages at (the current rate),” she said.
Boison said the proposed 30 minute rate and maximum rate increases were still below the average rates charged at privately managed parking garages, which can charge as much as $5 per hour and have maximums as high as $28.
If approved by council, the rates would take effect on Sept. 1 of 2026 at the Helix, Courthouse, and Victorian Square garages. The rate would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027 at the Transit Center garage.
The agency also wants to begin charging drivers fines for damages to LexPark’s equipment.
“People are driving through our equipment so they don’t have to pay,” Boison said. “They’re literally hitting our kiosk. They’re hitting our multi-space meters. They just drive into them and take them out. We have not charged in the past for that.”
Drivers who damage garages’ gate arms could be charged up to $1,000, or could be charged the full cost of replacement if they destroy the equipment.
This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 1:59 PM.
