Reserved parking to cost $25 a day; taxis also get $25 annual fee

Published 5:00 am Thursday, December 7, 2017

 The Oxford Board of Aldermen approved two ordinance changes Tuesday that will up the cost to reserve a parking space and require taxi owners to pay a $25 annual inspection fee.

Before the change that goes into effect Jan. 4, parking spaces could be reserved for $10 around the Square. However, city officials eventually realized it cost someone less to reserve the space than if they fed the parking meter while they occupied the space, causing the city to lose revenue for that space.

Tuesday was the third reading and vote. A public hearing was held on the ordinance change two weeks ago and no one spoke out against the proposed change.

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During on-going construction projects, individuals and businesses sometimes use parking spaces to temporarily store equipment, machinery and Dumpsters.

Requests to use public parking spaces for storage and/or temporary placement of equipment will also now come with a $20 application fee, according to the ordinance amendment.

Aldermen also approved Tuesday three changes to the city’s Vehicle for Hire ordinance that includes an additional $25 fee for the annual inspection and medallion.

“We do annual inspections on taxis and we only charged a one-time $30 for the medallion to put on their vehicles and every year after that it was free,” Davis said recently. “We saw we were losing money having to have someone do the inspections and purchasing the new decals.”

The ordinance amendment changes the location of the current taxi medallions from the sides of the vehicle to the front windshield on the driver’s side, which will help identify taxis that have passed the annual inspection and are qualified to run as a taxi in Oxford.

The ordinance amendment also now gives drivers two permits, with one having to be displayed in the vehicle at all times and the other to be in the driver’s possession.