FAYETTEVILLE — City officials on Monday could not back up their claim late Friday that vandals had caused $15,000 in damages to new equipment installed to implement paid parking on and around Dickson Street.
Just before 5 p.m. Friday, Police Chief Greg Tabor issued a news release saying incidents of criminal mischief against the new machines "have been documented" and that the damage from them "is estimated at approximately $15,000."
Questioned about the reports Monday, officials confirmed several new paid parking stations in the Dickson Street entertainment district had been damaged, but nobody could document the level of damage claimed Friday.
In one case, a bill slot was jammed, and another machine was marked with spray paint, said Cpl. Rick Crisman. Police reports list five incidents of criminal mischief involving parking kiosks last week.
Those damages come to an estimated total of $451, Crisman noted.
"These acts of vandalism are costly to taxpayers in both repairs and lost revenue," last week's release stated.
On Monday, little agreement could be found about who came up with Friday's estimate. Tabor said the estimate came from city parking officials. Sharon Waters, who is manager of Fayetteville parking and telecommunications, said the estimate was generated by the police department.
Waters declined to elaborate on which pay stations were damaged or the nature of the damage, saying she deferred to the police department on such criminal incidents.
On Friday, someone snapped the arm off one of the gated lots, and on Saturday, police arrested a man who was bouncing on another arm in an attempt to break it, Tabor said. All those occurred after Friday's press release.
That sort of damage can range from $150 to $3,500, Waters said.
Waters would also not say what security devices -- like cameras or alarms -- the units have already installed, citing the confidentiality of that information.
"Yes, we have installed additional security devices but that information is not cleared for public consumption," Waters said.
Purchasing and installing all of the equipment, software and licensing needed for the new parking program came to $810,974, according to purchasing documents. A single pay station has a base cost of $6,990. Once bells and whistles like the coin acceptor ($1,079) is added on, that price rises to between $14,000 and $15,000 -- depending on whether the unit is powered with a solar panel or plugs into an A/C outlet, according to purchasing documents. The solar panel adds $985 to the cost.
The damages have in no way suspended parking fees or enforcement, Waters said.
"There are not any machines sitting idle at all," Waters said. "All damages to the parking equipment were repaired immediately, so there is not any equipment that is not functioning."