TOPEKA (KSNT) - The Topeka City Council Policy & Finance Committee says the parking reserve fund could be depleted by 2027 unless changes are made. The City of Topeka is spending $22.2 million over the next three-and-a-half years to improve eight parking garages. The funding was approved in fall of 2022. Included in the renovations are updated security cameras, pigeon-proof netting, waterproofing, façade facelifts and structural improvements. In the most recent Policy & Finance meeting on Oct. 22, the city heard there is an estimated loss of $415,965 for 2024 and a budgeted loss of $454,775 in 2025. The city is now considering subsidizing parking from other revenue sources because the current forecast would see the parking reserve fund depleted by 2027. Can Shawnee County’s AI camera system track you? To help combat the budgeted loss in 2025, the city is recommending restructuring parking rates downtown. The proposal would see standard garage parking rates increase from $67.75 to $74 and reserved parking rates increase from $75.50 to $95. The rate structure recommendations also proposed increasing rates every three years until 2032 and consolidating meter rates. "We're currently making a lot of improvements to the garage," said Public Works Deputy Director Jason Tryon. "We obviously wouldn't increase prices on our customers in the middle of those renovations so we would wait until we had substantially completed the renovations and could reopen the garage fully, so we're not instituting a price increase while we're also inconveniencing our customers with the construction." According to a presentation to the Policy & Finance committee, the rate increases along with other price increases could bring the total revenue up by $512,612; covering the $454,775 budgeted shortfall. The other price increase recommendations included: Implementing paid parking on Kansas Avenue at $1.25 per hour. Bring back $1 per hour parking on the 100 block east and west of Kansas Avenue. Adding additional circumstances to reserved spaces to include for-profit sales. Tweaking meter rates so they're equal to each other, reducing leapfrogging from one meter to the next. Establishing a price parity between street permits and garage permits. What happens when Topeka’s emergency rooms are full? The project is going on now and is scheduled to be finished just days before the beginning of 2028. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.