Drivers planning to park in the Village of Hiram can keep their change heading into the new year.
Parking will remain free on all village-owned streets following a resolution made Nov. 12 with Hiram College that ended months-long discussions about a pay-to-park proposal from village Mayor Anne Haynam. Instead of the village adding paid parking zones throughout the area to increase revenue for its emergency services, the college will pay $40,000 annually to the village for three years, according to the resolution.
The resolution was passed 6-0 by Hiram Village Council and was effective immediately.
“The college and the village share a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship, and this resolution reflects a continued commitment to collaboration and shared growth,” said Jenelle Sanders, Hiram College’s director of strategic marketing and media relations, in an email on behalf of the college.
As of Nov. 21, Haynam said discussions about the contract, which will include the terms of the agreement, have not yet been begun. Sanders said the agreement “does not include stipulations on how the village will allocate the funds provided by the college.”
The pay-to-park program proposal, which would have required residents and visitors to pay to park throughout village-owned streets, began due to concerns over shortfalls in the village’s general fund, which funds police, fire and EMS budgets, Haynam said. Taxpayers were unlikely to accept any tax increases, she said in the village’s pay-to-park public meeting Sept. 25.
In the past two years, the village has increased village property tax to 2.25%, which is higher than the 0.99% national average and the average rate in Ohio of 1.41%.
Because of a lack of funds, the village currently pays first responders less than the rate of surrounding towns. In Hiram, part-time police officers make $19 an hour, when neighboring areas pay up to $30 an hour, the mayor said. This impacts the area’s ability to make necessary upgrades, such as replacing emergency vehicles that have over 100,000 miles and are decades old.
“There are a lot of things that we just didn’t do because we didn’t have the funds, and, eventually, that deferment catches up to you,” Haynam said. “We have pressures on salaries. We have pressures on needs.”
For decades, dating back to the 1980s, Hiram College had given money to the village, Haynam said. These contributions, which Haynam said had reached $30,000 annually some years, went toward the village’s safety services. The contribution had since stopped.
Sanders confirmed the college had provided funds to the village in the past. Today, Hiram College ensures any financial contributions are formalized through written contracts.
Under the now-null proposal, the village would have added 200 paid parking places that required drivers to utilize a QR code to confirm their parking and pay an hourly rate of $2 or a daily maximum of $6.
Haynam said she expected the village to make $45,000 to $50,000 yearly with this system, but members of the community, including Hiram College students, had concerns.
“We’re very proud to have a college in the village,” Haynam said. “There are a lot of ways that I want us to work more because, speaking from the village standpoint, our residents want to support the college, want to be involved, want to attract and maintain our students.”
The village’s “critical and cherished” safety services cater to the needs of the small college town of nearly 1,000 people, Haynam said. According to language in the resolution, the agreement promotes the “health, safety and general welfare of the village.”
