Operators of paid parking lots where visitors leave their car unattended more than 48 hours are required to register with the City of Galveston and remit monthly fees based on the number of days vehicles are parked.
The Galveston City Council in February passed an ordinance requiring long-term parking lot operators to remit a daily fee of $1.15 for vehicles parked longer than 48 hours. Excluded from this definition are parking lots used by residents on a contractual basis for long-term parking, parking in employer-owned or designated parking lots, recreational vehicle or camper resorts, and parking at higher education institutions or hotels and motels. The operators may keep 10 percent of the fees collected for administrative costs. The new ordinance will go into effect May 1, with the first monthly submittal due by June 15, 2023.
Long-term parking operators are required to apply online for a one-time permit registering their facility. The application is available online at https://forms.galvestontx.gov/Forms/LongTermParking. Once the application is submitted, the City Marshal’s Office will contact the operator with a time to pick up the permit, which must be displayed at the business, and pay the one-time $10 permit fee.
Once registered, the operators are required to track the number of vehicles parking longer than 48 hours in their lot each month and assess a $1.15 fee for each day parked.
By the 15th of each month, the owner or operator of the parking facility will submit a report for the preceding month to the City of Galveston identifying the number of vehicles that have parked or prepaid to park at the facility for more than 48 hours. The sum collected from those vehicles as payment of the long-term parking fee ($1.15 per day) shall be remitted to the City of Galveston less the 10% amount retained by the lot owner or operator. The monthly submission must be made to the Finance Department in City Hall, 823 Rosenberg and an example of the monthly reporting form is available here: https://www.galvestontx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17297/COG-Long-Term-Parking-Monthly-Submission-Form
The long-term parking fee is common in cruise destinations and other municipalities. The revenues will help the city maintain infrastructure from the wear-and-tear of more than the 1 million cruise passengers who visit the island annually.