Get out your quarters, Arlington: The county’s proposed budget for next year includes increasing parking meter fees. Starting in July, an hour at most of the county’s meters could cost you $1.25, 25 cents more than today’s going rate. 

The increase— which for long-term meters means a change from $0.75 to $1 — is expected to raise an additional $1.7 million for the county’s coffers.

Members of the public will have a chance to weigh in on the idea during FY 2012 budget hearings scheduled for March 24.

The hike is the first since 2007 (when it also went up by 25 cents), and still leaves Arlington parking somewhat cheaper than neighboring jurisdictions. Parking at most of D.C.’s meters costs $2 per hour. The City of Alexandria last year hiked its fees, which ranged from $1 to $1.25, to $1.75 per hour. But some business owners in Old Town managed to fight back and get the parking rate reduced in downtown areas, at least temporarily, last November.

According to county staffers, the increase isn’t being proposed to cover any particular shortfall or just to raise revenues — in fact they’re hoping it will increase turnover of parking spaces. “Especially in areas where short term parking is needed, the rates can help to encourage parking turnover,” staff noted in a Feb. 12 report.

So what do people feeding the meters think? No surprise, they aren't exactly thrilled about having to fork over more coin for parking, especially along Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards where the hunt for street parking to avoid garages can be a full-contact sport.

"It kind of sucks. I mean, a quarter's a quarter," says Lisa Kail, as she pushes a quarter into the meter for her maroon Honda in front of Brooklyn Bagel on Wilson Boulevard. "I guess just a quarter really wouldn't matter, but that's how they get you. It adds up."

Semone Zewdie, a cab driver parking in the municipal lot next to the courthouse, is also dismayed by the news. "Of course I don't like to pay for parking," he says. The new fee might not immediately occur to him, because he usually stays less than an hour in a space, he adds, "but you always put in more so you don't get a ticket." 

The parking increase is just one more expense for drivers, he points out. "The parking, the toll roads. They're increasing everything," he says.

But Tammy Jones, parking nearby in the same lit, subscribes more to the "it's just a quarter" argument. "I mean, it's Arlington. It's an urban environment. You have to pay to park," she says.

And while it seems like no one would advocate for more parking fees, Greater Greater Washington has made the point in the past that Arlington's meters should run after dark to encourage other forms of transportation. Currently, parking is free after 6 p.m. across most of Arlington County, meaning the biggest competition for those metered spaces actually happens after people have to feed the meters at all.

The extended hours are not unheard of around D.C.; in some parts of the District parking meters are now in effect until 10 p.m.

What do you think? Are you against the increase in parking meter fees? Take our poll below.