ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — The City of St. Pete Beach is considering raising parking costs to up to $7 an hour for certain times of the day, under a new proposal.

The city hired Dixon Resources to perform an audit of their parking system last year to see what adjustment to parking could be made going forward. In a presentation to city commissioners earlier this week, assistant city manager Adam Poirrier outlined different possibilities that would raise the city’s parking revenue.

The considerations include increasing parking rates by $.50 per hour, making it $5 per hour on weekdays and $6 per hour on weekends. That move alone could increase the city’s parking revenue by $600,000. In addition, they’re considering adding  ‘Sunset Pricing’ which is an additional $1 per hour between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

If both changes take effect simultaneously, that would up the price to park in the evening to $6 an hour on weekdays and $7 an hour on weekends.

What You Need To Know

 Under proposal, parking could go to $5 an hour on weekdays and $6 an hour on weekends

 City is considering adding additional $1 per hour during evening hours, busy months

 City commission will review proposal on March 24

FULL REPORT: Possible parking changes in St. Pete Beach

The city is also considering a seasonal pricing model, that adds $1 per hour during the busiest times of year from February to April.

If all changes take effect, that could increase the city’s parking revenue by over $1.2 million.

Other proposed changes include passing credit card fees on to the customer, eliminating the county park special rate, increasing the holiday rate, and putting Friday on the weekend rate schedule.

The city is also considering lowering the parking fee by $1 an hour before noontime, to encourage people to visit the beach during less-busy times. If all these changes go into effect, that could net an additional nearly $500,000 for the city.

Beach parking *could* hit $7 an hour during certain hours of the day, if St. Pete Beach commissioners back these proposed parking increases.

If all these different possibilities go into effect, the city could make an additional $1.7 million a year in revenue @BN9 pic.twitter.com/PhN9Mp2G8P

— Angie Angers (@angie_angers) March 12, 2026

Karen Marriott, the city’s vice-mayor, says with the costs of keeping up the beach, restrooms, and public facilities increasing it’s not possible to keep the cost for parking the same forever.

“In a small town like St. Pete Beach we don’t have a huge budget,” she said. “When we have a ton of visitors coming to our beach and using the parking lots… that does come with a cost.”

Marriott says she worries about the unintended consequences of the potential rate increases. She fears people will begin parking in residential neighborhoods to try and dodge paying, or that people will avoid visiting St. Pete Beach and head to other areas instead. She says she supports the proposed rate decrease in the early-morning hours.

“I think we’ll see what happens when we try it out… we’ll get data back and see if it turned out to be the right thing to do,” she said.

Ken Hautmann, Owner of Chill Bar & Grill, said parking on Corey Avenue infront of his restaurant is one of the only free locations in the city. He worries his spots will be taken over by beachgoers, which will penalize his customers.

“We need to raise money, I get that the city needs to do that and there’s a lot of infrastructure needs,” he said. “But hopefully they can find another way besides parking.”

The proposed changes would not affect St. Pete Beach homeowners, who can continue to get a free parking pass through the city.

Poirrier said commissioners will address the potential parking increases again at a March 24 meeting. A public hearing would be held before any vote would take place.