Parking facilities’ debt cost USC $1.1 million in 2012 fiscal year
The Horizon and Discovery parking garages are bringing in more money, but USC is still spending about $1 million a year to keep them afloat.
The two Innovista garages have been plagued with financial woes since they were opened about four years ago and haven’t made enough to pay off their loans, though USC officials hope moving the Darla Moore School of Business could boost revenue.
It cost $1.8 million to run the garages and pay down their debt in the 2012 fiscal year, according to an audit conducted by Elliott Davis, a southeastern accounting firm, and USC had to pay nearly $1.1 million to cover the gap.
In the 2012 fiscal year, which ended in June, they brought in $683,846, a 24.3 percent increase from 2011, according to the audit.
“In 2012, we had a good year,” Tom McNeish of Elliott Davis said.
And that’s more than double the what they made in 2008 — about $300,000, according to McNeish.
“Now, is that enough to fund the annual debt service? Certainly not, but we are trending up,” McNeish told USC trustees Friday.
But McNeish said there’s room for revenue to grow at the garages, especially when the business school moves in 2014.
USC expects an increase in how much of the Discovery garage, which is on Park Street, is full, from about 50 percent occupancy to around 75 percent, said Derrick Huggins, the associate vice president for transportation and logistical relations. That includes hourly and daily parking.
It probably won’t have much effect on Main Street’s Horizon garage, which is 65 percent occupied, he said.
Across campus, Huggins said USC expects the business school’s move will open up more short-term parking for students around the financial aid office and Gambrell Hall.
But he doesn’t expect occupancy rates on the north end of campus to drop much because USC is planning to change how its shuttles operate in 2014 to make it easier to get across the university’s growing campus.
The system will begin to favor point-to-point routes rather than the loops buses follow now, and Huggins expects students will eventually lose the mentality that they need to park near their classes.
“As you ramp up even more on your transit programs, it doesn’t really matter where you park,” Huggins said. “Basically, students will purchase what is open and then adjust their walk times, their walk paths and transit options.”