CHRIS GARDNER Motorists could get away with free parking in Hastings while parking meters are adapted for new coinage later in the year. But in Napier, the city council has a plan to make the change after the 5c coin is dropped and the new, smaller, 10c, 20c and 50c coins areintroduced by the Reserve Bank on July 31. Kevin Deacon, regulatory services manager for the Hastings District Council, said the district's pay and display machines in carparks would be easily adapted for the new coins but changing the roadside parking meters might take some time. "There's going to be times when we might have to have a leniency period," Mr Deacon said. The leniency period could lead to free city parking. "We will be trying to get onto it as fast as we can, and introduce the new mechanisms possibly before the new coins are introduced," Mr Deacon said. The change-over is likely to put a dent in the $68,000 the council receives from its 555 parking meters every year and will cost the ratepayer more than $55,000. Napier City Council's 800 parking meters will cost about $48,000 to adapt. It collects $780,000 a year in parking revenue. City council planning manager Alastair Thompson said changing the meter mechanism was fairly simple and would be done in a single weekend after the new coins were introduced - on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday, when the meters were not used.
