SCRANTON — Nine years ago, a lease of parking garages and street-metered spaces to an outside operator helped bail the city out of a financial bind.
But the parking system took its own financial beating during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not fully recovered, resulting in the city now planning to help the outside operator survive, according to information discussed Wednesday at a Scranton Parking Authority meeting.
A sweeping plan in the works involving a refinancing of debt connected to the parking system also calls for the city to contribute $2 million over the next 10 years to the system for maintenance and repairs of four garages, an expansion of payment hours for street-metered spaces, installation of solar panels atop some garages to generate revenue, and the dissolving of the redundant Scranton Parking Authority.
The leasing out of the parking system in summer 2016 by the administration of then-Mayor Bill Courtright to an outside “concessionaire,” along with an unrelated selling of the Scranton sewer system to a water company at the end of 2016, stand as landmark moves in the history of the city. Formulated at the same time, the “monetizations” of city parking and sewer assets netted the city tens of millions dollars to resolve various longstanding financial problems. Those included cleaning up a disastrous, council-induced default of parking debt in 2012 that nearly tanked the city and shoring up the city’s severely distressed pension system, which together helped the city restore its creditworthiness and eventually shed its label since 1992 under state Act 47 as a financially distressed municipality.
The parking deal initially went well until the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the downtown for some time and created a lingering downturn that now requires a restructuring of debt that funded the concession lease.
The lease deal unloaded operation of street-metered spaces owned by the city and parking garages owned by the Scranton Parking Authority to an outside entity, the nonprofit National Development Council, which has since changed its name to Grow America. The 2016 deal also created a seven-member hybrid entity, the nonprofit Community Development Properties Scranton, containing four members of NDC and three city members — the mayor, the city council president and the city controller, or their designees — as the controlling entity underpinning the new arrangement, and which issued $38 million in bonds to pay the city upfront for the 45-year concession lease. That is the parking debt that now is getting refinancing.
During a Scranton Parking Authority meeting Wednesday at City Hall, attorney Liz Preate Havey, who is a special counsel for the city from the Dilworth Paxson law firm of Philadelphia, gave an overview of the situation and plans underway. The debt restructuring and amending of the concession lease provides an opportunity to dissolve the Scranton Parking Authority, she said.
“There is some duplication there and the thought is maybe it’s time to wind things down there with the authority,” said Havey, who participated during the SPA meeting by phone. “It seemed like this would be the right time.”
SPA Executive Director/Solicitor Todd Johns said, “We’re here to serve as long as we’re needed and if there comes a point in time when our service is no longer needed in this capacity, then we were happy to do what we’ve done.”
The Scranton Parking Authority held a meeting Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in the first floor entry hallway of Scranton City Hall because the interior doors were locked, from left, SPA Executive Director/Solicitor Todd Johns, SPA board member Drew Simpson, SPA board Chairman Alex Molfetas, Grow America Director David Trevisani and SPA board member Michael Salerno. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The plans calls for:
• CDPS to seek from the city $200,000 a year for 10 years for capital maintenance, repairs and improvements of the four parking garages in the system that are SPA-owned, but that would have ownership transferred to the city. Those are the Linden, Casey, Medallion and Connell garages. CDPS also would seek grants and alternative funding for capital improvements. If the city misses a $200,000 contribution in any year, the shortfall shall be carried forward within the 10-year time frame. The “Annual Capex (capital expenditures) Payment” term also can be extended and the payment amount negotiated by the city and concessionaire.
• CDPS to also seek $155,000 from the dissolving SPA for some immediate capital improvement projects to the parking system that have been on hold.
• CDPS to refinance $30 million through issuing new bonds and extending the lease term by nine years, or until 2070. “If we didn’t refinance this, there would be the potential that the bonds would go into default because the revenues from the parking system took a major hit from COVID, and so it just has not been able to reach the levels or the projections that were contemplated when they issued the bonds back in 2016,” Havey said. “Had the COVID pandemic not happened, I think things would be moving along better, but that has just changed the landscape.” Grow America Director David Trevisani noted that bondholders realized they would have to “take a haircut” through refinancing, meaning receive less back on their investment than originally anticipated. “We’re restructuring the bonds to look at this long-term,” Trevisani said. “We need some support here. This is a partnership. The city owns the system. This is a lease. Someday it’s going to come back to the city. So the city understood that it was important to support the system and protect it so when you get it back, it’s in good shape,” Trevisani said.
• Implementation of increases of 25 cents per hour in street-meter and garage parking rates already previously approved to take effect in 2026; as well as a $5 increase in meter bagging, to $25; and a $50 increase in an annual service permit fee, to $250; and implementing a service fee for credit card and other payment methods.
• Extension of hours of motorist payment for street-metered payment kiosks, from the current 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and on Saturdays from the current free parking all day to payment required from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Trevisani said these extension of street-meter hours are a response to the growth in the number of people living downtown, and who park on streets and in front of businesses overnight into the morning throughout weekends. SPA Chairman Alex Molfetas expressed disappointment with the extension of hours for paying for metered street parking.
• Installation of solar panels on the upper decks of the Linden, Casey and Medallion garages. These levels have been unused for parking for years because they contain excess capacity. Solar panels would pay for themselves over time by powering the lighting of those garages, Trevisani said. This initiative is not finalized, but if pursued, the panels would likely be installed in 2026, Trevisani said.
• Clarification that at the end of the lease term, the title and operations of the parking facilities revert to the city, and not the soon-to-be-dissolved authority. The non-city owned garages in the parking system are Electric City and the Marketplace at Steamtown garages, which are owned by a firm of businessman John Basalyga, but which got folded under the city’s parking-system operations umbrella in 2016 to not compete against the city system. This operations umbrella would continue to remain in place going forward.
• The city to power wash the four city-owned garages at least once every two years.
• Noting that the city can implement a parking tax across all parking lots and metered spaces in the city and negotiate with the concessionaire to allocate a portion of parking tax revenues as a grant dedicated parking system operations and improvements.
• The city to retain the authority to designate location of metered street parking to deal with the city’s streetscape projects that might impact the number and locations of metered spaces. CDPS will be responsible for identifying and proposing alternate locations for replacement spaces, subject to city approval, if a streetscaping plan results in a reduction of CDPS-metered parking spaces.
• CDPS to provide a five-year capital plan and annually update it by Sept. 1.
• To spell out that being in compliance with laws includes without limitation the Right To Know Law.
• To start on July 1 “immobilization” enforcement via Barnacle against persistent parking-citation scofflaws. The Barnacle device sticks to windshields to block a driver’s view and gets removed once unpaid parking fines are paid.
Next, the administration of Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti will soon present to Scranton City Council legislation to authorize the city to amend the concession lease accordingly with the new plan.
“In order to ensure that the (parking) system can meet its debt obligations and also provide for capital needs to maintain the facilities in good operational order, CDPS and the bondholder have agreed to refund the existing bonds. To that end, it is necessary for the city to approve amendments to the Concession Agreements relative to the parking system,” according to description of the forthcoming legislation. “This transaction has also afforded the city the opportunity to streamline its role in assisting with the parking system, resulting in the planned dissolution of the Scranton Parking Authority and the city taking ownership of the four garages.”
The original bond financing obtained through the Scranton-Lackawanna Health and Welfare Authority involved four different series of bond. The CDPS refinancing also will be obtained through the SLHWA agency, and of maximum amount not exceed $35 million, according to a public notice published June 18 in The Times-Tribune.
A vehicle moves down the ramp in the Linden Garage on the corner of Linden St. and N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A parking meter along Liden St in Scranton on Thursday, June 26, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
The Casey Garage on Adams Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The upper level of the Medallion Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The upper level of the Casey Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The upper level of the Casey Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Linden Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Medallion Garage on Adams Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The upper level of the Medallion Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Vehicles are parked in the Casey Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A parking meter along Adams St. in Scranton on Thursday, June 26, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
A sign for a parking meter outside of the Lackawanna County Courthouse building in Scranton on Thursday, June 26, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
A sign pointing towards the nearest parking meter on the corner of Liden and Jefferson in Scranton on Thursday, June 26, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
The Scranton Parking Authority held a meeting Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in the first floor entry hallway of Scranton City Hall because the interior doors were locked, from left, SPA Executive Director/Solicitor Todd Johns, SPA board member Drew Simpson, SPA board Chairman Alex Molfetas, Grow America Director David Trevisani and SPA board member Michael Salerno. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The Scranton Parking Authority held a meeting Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in the first floor entry hallway of Scranton City Hall because the interior doors were locked. SPA Chairman Alex Molfetas, standing, speaks with SPA Executive Director/Solicitor Todd Johns. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)