Labor and Parking Industry Join Forces to Block Increase on Parking Tax

CHICAGO--October 14, 2011: Parking industry owners, operators and Teamsters labor officials have joined forces today to block a city proposal to increase parking taxes. The Parking Industry Labor Management Committee say they will be joining forces with downtown restaurants, hotels, businesses and building owners all of whom will be negatively impacted by a parking tax hike.

“Chicago has some of the highest parking tax rates in the nation. Another increase will only mean fewer people will come downtown, jeopardizing our members' jobs”

The Mayor's budget plan includes increasing the parking tax for motorists who need to park downtown during the week in an effort to alleviate the City's budget deficit.

"Chicago has some of the highest parking tax rates in the nation. Another increase will only mean fewer people will come downtown, jeopardizing our members' jobs," said John Coli, president of Teamsters Joint Council 25. The Teamsters represent nearly 4,000 parking garage employees in the Chicago area.

"I am very worried about what a parking tax increase will mean in the long-term for our downtown. Office vacancy rates are already high," Michael Prussian, chairman of the Parking Industry Labor Management Committee stated. "What has been learned from increasing parking taxes in other cities certainly indicates that the downtown suffers. We are risking the investments we've already made in downtown for a short term financial fix. It seems counter-productive," Prussian stated.

Parking industry owners and operators say that more than fifty percent of every dollar they collect today goes towards taxes. The increasing cost of gasoline, coupled with increases in the parking tax, will dissuade motorists from making trips downtown.

The Parking Industry Labor Management Committee (PILMC) represents the operators, owners and workers of Chicago parking garages, including more than 4,000 parking industry employees represented by Teamsters Local 727.