While things seem to quite down in Oxford during the summer months, revenue from the downtown Square’s parking meters has exceeded expectations.

Parking Director Matt Davis reported the monthly parking figures Friday to the Downtown Parking Advisory Council. In July, meters took in $53,321, which is right at the average of revenue taken in since the meters went live in October 2015. The highest grossing month was October with $60,638 and the lowest was January when $46,357 was collected.

Since school ended in May, money collected from the meters dipped only slightly from the busier fall months.

“We’re pretty much on the same mark as most of the other months,” Davis said.

Tickets issued decrease

While revenue is expected to increase during the next few months, the number of tickets being issued has decreased, mostly due to people becoming more complaint and using the meters, Davis said.

In July, parking officers issued 297 tickets. The average since October has been 423 tickets a month. The majority of tickets, 285, were for overtime parking. Other tickets were issued for improper parking and one for illegal parking in a handicap parking space.

Fifty-eight of the tickets were issued to cars with out-of-state license plates.

“We expect to see that number go up in the fall,” Davis said, “as students return.”

Unpaid tickets

Davis also reported he hired another part-time parking officer who will work Thursday through Saturday to have more coverage on the weekends.

“We also expect to see a dramatic increase of tickets on those days,” Davis said.

Some council members expressed concern over the amount of unpaid parking tickets, which totaled 3,393. If someone doesn’t pay their ticket after 120 days, it goes to a collection agency. Davis said he wold check with similar-sized cities to see how they handle their parking ticket collections and report back during the September board meeting.