Discussion at last night's State College Borough Council meeting evolved into a debate about how much Christmas cheer the borough should spread through parking programs this holiday season.

The borough has relieved parking restrictions during the November and December shopping season for the past four years, said Borough Council President Tom Daubert.

But a tight budget this year has some council members reconsidering whether or not to continue losing revenue from parking tickets and meter fees.

"This is no longer something that we can afford," council member Janet Knauer said.

Council approved two of the Downtown Improvement District's three requests (DID), and decided to table the request that Council thought would generate the most money.

The borough is losing about $25,000 in revenue to accommodate requests from the DID to relieve parking enforcement and enact free garage parking.

This is about $20,000 more than the borough can spare, Knauer said.

Abandoning the holiday season parking programs is "not the best way to spread Christmas cheer," council member James Meyer said.

"This is not where our budget problem is," he said.

After a lengthy discussion, council voted to have free garage parking on every Saturday and Sunday from Nov. 27 to Jan. 1. and free evening parking after 5 p.m. from Nov. 26 to Jan. 1, including all borough streets, lots and garages. In a 4-2 vote, council rejected the DID's request to relieve parking enforcement during the same time period as part of the courtesy parking program that encourages shopping downtown. Council will revisit the issue at its Oct. 29 work session.

The courtesy parking program gives motorists 20 extra minutes to park when they would otherwise receive a parking ticket. Parking enforcement officers place "courtesy cards" on the vehicle when the meter time has expired.

Teresa Sparacino, executive director of the DID, said the courtesy parking program is one of the most popular programs for downtown business owners.

Shoppers are not left with a "bad taste" if they receive a courtesy card rather than a parking ticket after shopping, she said.

Continuing the parking programs is important for goodwill between the borough and the DID, Meyer said.

Reducing contributions to other projects would save money and maintain the holiday season programs, he said.

"I don't think this is the place to cut the budget," Meyer said.

But the borough could be losing revenue to store or restaurant employees that park on the streets during the courtesy parking program, said council member Jeff Kern.

"I want to make sure that we encourage people to shop, not just to park," he said.

The borough is already spending money to provide adequate parking through the Fraser Street/Beaver Avenue parking garage project, Knauer said.

"If that's not a contribution, I don't know what is," she said.

The courtesy parking program has been built into the budget so that the borough is not losing $25,000 that it expected to gain in revenue, said Michael Groff, finance director for the borough.

"This has been an ongoing program," he said. "This is something that we have come to accommodate in the budget."