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Irwin To Replace Old Parking Meters

IRWIN, Pa. (KDKA) - Irwin's old parking meters just aren't cutting it anymore. The old meters have actually been costing the borough money instead of making it.

Deborah Schrum is a big fan of Irwin, Westmoreland County, telling KDKA, "Irwin's a great little town for walking around and restaurants."

The borough's old mechanical parking meters however have issues. As Schrum put it, "These ones are expired for sure."

With that in mind, the borough decided to make some changes when it comes to putting change in the parking meter slots. Irwin is in the process of replacing every one of their 275 mechanical meters with modern ones.

"We decided to upgrade these ones to the digital, to the current century. We got an audit from the Department of Weights and Measures and ours were giving away time," Irwin borough manager Shari Martino told KDKA's Ross Guidotti.

Another reason for the change is the old meters are just that old, practically antiques.

Martino says in addition to the equipment being old and beat, the parking rates were a bit behind the times as well.

"For 5 cents, you got 30 minutes. And you had a maximum of 2 hours," says Martino.

The new rates will be 25 cents for every 30 min. Also, the "new" meters are remanufactured saving the taxpayers a few nickels, dimes and quarters.

"It was significantly cheaper to go with the refurb. They're only 65 dollars ahead," Martino said.

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