State government won’t give workers a break on parking passes despite telework

Kayley Smith was at home on maternity leave when she got the call two years ago.

After four years on a waiting list, she was offered a parking pass at the Department of Health Care Services building downtown where she works.

“Even while on maternity leave and not at work, I absolutely accepted this spot,” said Smith, 31, of Vintage Park.

Nine months into the coronavirus outbreak, she’s still paying for the parking pass even though she rarely uses it. Like many other state employees, she works from home most days according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s guidance.

The Department of General Services, which manages 12 state parking facilities in Sacramento including those at the health care buildings, hasn’t reduced monthly parking prices.

At $70 per month, the pass has become difficult to afford, Smith said. Like all state workers, she and her partner are working at reduced pay. Her electricity bill has tripled while working from home and she’s paying for meals her three children used to get at school, she said.

“Why they haven’t made any special accommodations during this time is just wild to me,” Smith said.

Parking costs

Smith’s concerns are shared by some other state workers who have parking passes but haven’t used them much. Yet the demand for the passes has only increased during the pandemic.

In February, 4,385 state workers were on waiting lists for monthly parking passes. In November, 5,675 employees were on the lists, according to figures provided by Department of General Services spokeswoman Monica Hassan.

Becky Moore, a Department of Health Care Services manager, said she has been waiting for four and a half years and would eagerly accept a pass despite the uncertainty.

“If my name comes up, I’m taking the spot,” said Moore, 53, of Elk Grove. “I don’t care if I have to pay for six months.”

Moore, 53, of Elk Grove, said she is teleworking full time, but before telework she was paying about $250 per month to park, primarily at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento.

In addition to the expense, parking without a monthly pass is a hassle, she said.

“The frustration is having to drive around and try to find a lot that has an opening,” she said. “It’s just a frustrating way to start your day.

The Department of General Services reduced its daily parking rate to $8 in June but hasn’t reduced monthly prices, Hassan said in an email.

“The intent of implementing the new (daily) rate was to better accommodate state employees who previously did not have access to parking and give those who currently have monthly parking but have moved to remote work the option to only pay for what they use,” Hassan said in the email.

Employees who switch to daily parking rates give up their passes, Hassan said in the email.

The state charges between $50 and $85 per month for the passes, Hassan said. The prices are considerably lower than other options in Sacramento, where parking averages $140 per month, according to parking site Spot Hero.

The City of Sacramento charges roughly $45 to $145 per month for parking in its lots and $125 to $215 per month for garage parking, according to a city website.

Smith said that before she got the monthly pass she was paying $24 per day for street parking, a rate she said she can’t afford now. So she holds onto her monthly pass.

Permanent telework

With the state moving to incorporate permanent telework under directions from Newsom, questions over parking probably aren’t going away anytime soon.

The Little Hoover Commission, an independent oversight agency that examines California state issues, touched on parking in a Nov. 5 hearing on transitioning the state workforce to permanent telework.

“When I was in Sacramento, one of the most important things to staff was getting that parking space,” said Commission Chairman Pedro Nava, a former state assemblyman. “They wanted that desperately. They wanted that parking space.”

SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker said at the hearing that workers have been holding onto the spots since they don’t know when they’ll return to work or what the circumstances will be when they do return.

“If you’ve ever been on the waiting list, that is never any place you want to be,” Walker said.

Nava said parking, like other ancillary services associated with California state employment that employees are obligated to continue, should be reconsidered in the move to permanent telework.

“I think what is fascinating about this opportunity, because I do think this is an opportunity, is that you have a chance now to take the work situation and sort of peel off the layers that nobody really gives much thought to, such as having to pay for your parking when you can’t use it,” he said.