But parking meters are of much greater value to a city than just the revenue they produce. They ensure a steady turnover of cars. That translates into more shoppers, more sales for merchants and more jobs and taxes for the community.
And in a city where 80 percent of those in town on any given day are visitors, parking meters represent one small, almost painless way to raise money to reduce the tax burdens on its residents, most of whom are poor.
The steady destruction of parking meters is obvious here. Broken parking meter shells line such streets as North Carolina and Pennsylvania Avenues. On some streets the meters have disappeared and all that remains are rows of short metal posts, their rusting tops an invitation to injury, litigation and free parking.
Over by Donald Trump's half-finished Taj Mahal casino, scores of pickup trucks and cars owned by workers who earn top dollar are parked. The workers park free because there are no meters.
For years, little was done to stem the growing number of broken or missing parking meters.
City officials express little concern about the problem and have largely shrugged off any action.
Arthur Bunting, Atlantic City's revenue and finance director, said he did not think that revenue from parking meters was off this year, despite the increased reports of vandalism.
"I don't think we're really behind," he said. Asked for comparison figures for the last five years, Bunting said that assembling the information would be arduous and that it would be several days before he would provide it.
The figures, assembled independently from City Hall budgets in less than two minutes, show parking meter revenue peaked at $304,721 in 1983, falling as low as $237,820 in 1985. Bunting did call back, six days later, with the same data.
Revenue fell mostly because there were fewer meters in operation, according to one city official who has analyzed the data.
