CAPE MAY – Acting on a recommendation from its Municipal Taxation and Revenue Advisory Committee and looking for what Mayor Zack Mullock called more reasonable rates, the City Council is reviewing its options when it comes to parking app vendors and is seeking bids for a new contract.

The advisory committee discussed the need for the bids process, approved by the City Council last month, at its Jan. 11 meeting. Councilwoman Maureen McDade, the council’s representative to the committee, presented an analysis of the seven contracts that ParkMobile, Cape May City’s current vendor, has in the county.

“I was shocked at the variability of terms,” McDade said. She added that the committee had expected the contracts for the various municipalities to be “cookie cutter” documents. What she found was significant variability of fees, opt-out dates and term lengths, and the ability, sometimes unilaterally, of the vendor to raise user fees.

One of the attractions of ParkMobile is its broad use in the seven county towns. The thinking is that such broad exposure to the ParkMobile app means more people will be familiar with its installation and use, cutting down on the technology barrier that can impact an app’s usefulness.

McDade said the city should not take a potential change in vendors lightly. If a new vendor is introduced, the marketing of that change is a significant challenge, she said.

“We all know about the Stone Harbor debacle,” she added, referring to the huge rise in ticketing in that town last year after it implemented the ParkMobile app. “Avoiding that will take planning and boots on the ground.”

McDade said the bids will be opened on Wednesday, Jan. 24. The city is offering up to a five-year contract as an incentive to bidders.

When the city authorized the bid process, Mullock said he expected meters to be around for “a few more years.” He added, “We know we have people for whom a smartphone app is a challenge.”

Paid parking produces a significant revenue stream for the city. The fiscal 2023 budget reported that in 2022 the city budgeted anticipated revenue from parking at $1.7 million. The revenue the city actually realized that year far exceeded the budget, coming in at $2.2 million.

Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.