thousands of dollars on their $12 million budget.

Pay and display fees at the Laffan Street and Elliott Street car parks will jump from $2 to $2.50 on February 9.

Parking at the Bull's Head multi-storey will also go up from $2.50 to $3 on the same day.

The Corporation of Hamilton said the increases were necessary because of "rising costs of labour, material and equipment''.

Secretary Roger Sherratt said: "We hope the public will understand the need to increase these costs so the Corporation can meet its budget.

"We have to deal with increased costs all the time and parking is one of the few areas where the Corporation can make adjustments to meet its budget.

"We try to keep taxes down to a minimum and only raise them by the average increase in the cost of living.

"Laffan Street and Elliott Street are all-day parking areas and we have found it necessary to put up charges because of the rising costs of labour, material and equipment.'' It is understood the higher costs will raise thousands of dollars to pay for other services.

But Mr. Sherratt said there were no plans to increase charges in the rest of Hamilton's 10 pay and display car parks, as prices were put up last year.

Figures for the 1996 financial year, released last July, showed the Corporation had raised $1,771,866 in parking fees -- an increase of 34 percent on the year before.

The extra cash was generated by introducing on-street parking charges and building the new Bull's Head car park.

The 1996 figures showed the city had also collected $4.2 million in taxes, 1.6 percent up on 1995.

But the Corporation had to pay $225,228 just to operate car parks and spending on Bull's Head came to $143,425.