Parking in the Carbon County lot in Jim Thorpe is increasing on weekends and holidays beginning in 2025.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners voted to advertise the updated ordinance, showing the increases.

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko said that the increase comes at a time when the county has already had to utilize funds from the parking fund to help balance next year’s budget. The budget, which calls for a 3-mill increase in taxes, will be officially voted on next week.

“We went around the area and looked at other places that were charging for parking,” he said, noting that most were around $20 or $25 for spots. “When we looked at all that and took the study of the whole area, the county was the cheapest.”

Because of this, Sofranko said that while rates will remain $8 for cars on weekdays, the parking fee in the lots will increase on weekends and holidays to $25, while buses, campers and vehicles towing trailers will increase on weekdays to $25, and on weekends and holidays to $75.

He added that by raising it, the board also hopes to push some cars out to other lots around Jim Thorpe that may be charging less to help with congestion.

The other reason, Sofranko said, was that the parking fund has helped offset costs to taxpayers for maintaining parking lots that the county oversees at Mauch Chunk Lake Park and in Jim Thorpe, and covers the cost of old Mauch Chunk Train Station utilities and operations.

“What we’re trying to do as commissioners is take what is a revenue source to offset the cost to the taxpayers here in the county,” Sofranko said.

In addition to parking lot fee increases, metered spots will also increase to $1 instead of 50-cents for 30 minutes, which is in line with discussions Jim Thorpe has been having regarding meters in the borough about possibly raising rates, Sofranko said.

The board highlighted that in just October, a total of 77,000 people visited the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau, located inside the train station.

“That’s a lot of cars,” Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said.

In addition, over just the three-day weekend over Columbus Day, the board said they were total over 17,000 people rode Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway.

“It’s easy to understand why we have a parking problem,” Nothstein said.

The board said that the current county parking lot holds approximately 375 vehicles, and many times on weekends, it hits capacity by 10 a.m.

This past October, several other organizations and Jim Thorpe police worked to create other lots and shuttles into the downtown to try and help alleviate traffic congestion.