Saint John drivers will be paying more for parking fees and fines as the province’s largest city continues to struggle with its financial problems.

People can now park free for up to two hours and free of charge after 6 p.m.

But Saint John council wants to hike the cost of street parking by 25 cents to $2 per hour and boost initial meter fines to $20 from $15 to bring in more money.

Terry Davies said the city's parking strategy has hurt his ability to run a business in Saint John's uptown area. (CBC)

The city estimates an increase could bring in more than $200,000 this year.

Saint John’s financial problems have been a hot topic in recent months. The city is cutting services and laying off staff as it tries to deal with its financial situation.

Saint John's pension deficit has jumped to $190 million and the city is asking the provincial government to approve special changes to the plan to help control the deficit.

Some business groups and owners support the idea of higher uptown parking fees and rates, but are worried the idea is designed solely to be a revenue generator.

Peter Asimakos, the general manager for Uptown Saint John, said the city should not look to parking fees to help with its financial problems. He cautions against big increases that could cause people to avoid the uptown.

"You can only go up so much, and when it does then it begins to be a detrimental factor in people travelling to the uptown. It's a tough balancing act,” he said.

"It's a fine line. We want to be competitive."

While the new fees and fines have been given an early approval, the city is being criticized by one storeowner for its parking strategy.

Terry Davies is closing his convenience store and Thai restaurant in Saint John's uptown area on Saturday.

Davies said owning a business in the city’s uptown has become more of a challenge in recent years. He said the problems are a result of the city's parking strategy.

Davies said the city should rethink its parking plan in the city.

“If you increase the rate on the street, and you decrease the rate on the lots, and you shorten the time on the street, you'll have more people gaining access to the businesses in the uptown area,” he said.

"And those people who will spend time in it will take advantage of the price savings over the lot."

Coun. Bill Farren said he hopes to one day see free parking in the city's uptown area. (CBC)

One city councillor is talking about a long-term parking plan.

Coun. Bill Farren said he hopes to one day see free parking everywhere in the area.

He said if parking times were kept short, this could help increase customer turnover.

"What they do in the more progressive cities is no parking meters, and what the parking attendants do is they go along and mark the tires and if they've been there for a certain period of time, then they ticket them,” he said.