Beginning June 1, Kansas City government will no longer use taxpayer dollars to pay for more than 100 employees to park in the garage across from City Hall.</p><p>Budget constraints and other considerations have prompted City Manager Wayne Cauthen to terminate the paid parking privilege for certain city employees. City fleet vehicles also will be moved from the garage in the next few months.</p><p>In the last year, the city spent more than $254,000 on parking for employees&#8217; privately owned vehicles, city-owned fleet vehicles and visitors who received parking reimbursements.</p><p>&#8220;In light of the current financial situation facing the city, and concerns raised by employees as we face the prospect of job eliminations, I am notifying all departments that the city will no longer pay in advance or reimburse for monthly parking,&#8221; Cauthen wrote in an April 18 memo.</p><p>The only exceptions appear to be a few aides in Mayor Mark Funkhouser&#8217;s office. Mayor&#8217;s spokesman Kendrick Blackwood said the mayor&#8217;s office would continue to pay for five employees to park in the garage at 11th and Oak streets. Others in the mayor&#8217;s office park for free in the City Hall basement garage.</p><p>The 12 City Council aides, who also parked at city expense in the 11th and Oak garage, are now parking for free in the City Hall basement. Mayor Pro Tem Bill Skaggs, who handles those types of issues for the City Council, said the spaces were not being used.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not like I threw someone out,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It just appeared to me, &#8216;Why not?&#8217;&#8194;&#8221;</p><p>But there may be some demand for those basement spots because the city also is looking to move more than 100 fleet cars out of the 11th and Oak garage.</p><p>Assistant City Manager John Franklin said the city started paying for certain employees to park in the 11th and Oak garage shortly after it opened in early 2003. At the time, city officials were worried about filling up the 1,300-space structure. There was no real policy dictating which city employees got the parking benefit, but it amounted to a nice benefit for select employees, with the city paying the government rate of $65 per space per month.</p><p>But now, the garage is full most days, and freeing those spaces would yield $110 per space per month at the nongovernment rate. Those private-sector dollars will mean more money going into city coffers to pay off the garage, Franklin said.</p><p>For employees who once had their parking paid, there will be a bit of sticker shock. The government rate has risen from $65 per month to $85 per month. Some employees have complained that absorbing that cost is like taking a pay cut.</p><p>Employees who were paying the $65 rate also are upset about the increase, pointing out that city employees who work in offices away from City Hall often have free parking.</p><p>But some employees have gotten creative. City Clerk Millie Crossland said several of her employees are now getting bus passes at a discount through the city government and have stopped driving to work.</p><p>&#8220;The $20 increase, plus gas prices, prompted them to stop,&#8221; she said.