Preliminary plans are in the works to use the additional funds from increased parking permit fees to implement improvements around campus.

These improvements include upgrades to the parking permit meters and the parking lot surfaces, as well as adding a pull-in area near the marquee in the front of the campus where students could buy daily parking permits.

Chief of Police Richard Bukowiecki acknowledged that the upgrades are long over-due and hopes to be able to begin the process as soon as the exact budget is known.

“(The police department) knows the meters are old and need to be updated. They need to have the ability to take (credit cards),” said Bukowiecki.

“They also need to be able to take dimes and nickels. I know it’s hard to dig around your car and find two dollars in quarters for the meter,” he added.

According to Ray Lucas, director of client services for VenTek International, a leading company providing parking permit dispensers, a basic parking meter with the capability to accept credit cards costs approximately $8,500.

That means it would cost an estimated $100,000 to replace the 10 meters located in the lots across campus, which have been in place for approximately 10 years.

Along with an upgrade to the meters, there are preliminary plans to resurface areas of certain parking lots around campus and to restripe many of the parking stalls as well.

Chief Bukowiecki stated that the last time any major maintenance was performed to the parking lots was approximately 15 years ago.

This is a kind of improvement students like Chris Johnson, broadcasting major, believe an increase in funds should be used for.

“(Cerritos College) needs to make the campus look better if we’re paying this much to park,” he said.

Also in the works is a plan to add a turn-in lane to the front of campus near the marquee. This turn-in lane would house at least one parking meter where visitors could purchase a daily permit before entering the parking lot.

The extent to which the planned upgrades will be applied is not yet known due to the fact that the amount of funds available will not be known until next fall.

“It’s hard to estimate how much extra funds there will be for improvements until after the parking permits have been sold for the fall semester next year. It’s possible that only roughly half of he students that buy a semester parking permit will be affected by the fee increase,” stated Bukowiecki.

The fee increase from $30 to $35 for a semester parking permit in the fall and spring, and from $15-$20 over the summer, comes on the heels of a $10 increase imposed in 2009.

This has not sat well with much of the student body, which is already feeling the pinch from increased unit fees.

“I don’t see the police doing any better work after the increase from $20-$30, and now they want even more to park,” exclaimed Daniel Fragoso, business major.

However, what some may see as an astronomical increase in fees, Bukowiecki sees as plain common sense.

“Before the last fee increase, there was no fee increase for 13 years. During that time, the minimum wage rose from $5 to $8, so it was necessary to increase fees. For a long time, we were operating in the red,” Bukowiecki stated.

“Looking at comparable schools, we have been behind what they are charging for parking for some time now,” he added.

Bukowiecki added that there are no future plans to further raise the semester permit rates or the daily permit rates any time in the near future.