Council chiefs have put the barrier down over the half-year total income from Angus parking charges.
The end of April signalled six months since the return of off-street charges following a gap of more than two decades but the local authority failed to respond to requests for the latest financial position.
Previous figures suggested the council would fall well short of the hoped-for £700,000 full-year income indicated when the controversial scheme was being brought back in.
The parking charges issue will be back in the spotlight at the latest meeting of the full Angus Council in Forfar on Thursday afternoon.
The council has also announced a two-week survey over options to gauge public opinion on the development of cash payment options for the 33 off-street car parks where charging applies.
The lack of a cash option has been heavily criticised by car park users and a council member/officer group was established to consider the introduction of a coin-operated system, or a scratchcard arrangement which would involve motorists picking up permits from local shops.
The authority added: “Findings from the survey will be considered by a member officer working group, which was set up to identify and develop cash payment options, before being reported back to the communities committee at the earliest opportunity.”
The survey, which will run until May 29, is available via the Have Your Say section of the council’s website and is also being offered in paper form at all Angus libraries and Arbroath’s Access office.
It points out a cash payment option would be more costly to introduce than a scratchcard scheme.
The member/officer group had originally planned to bring proposals back to the February communities committee but that has been delayed.
Tweaks have been made to the scheme, including the introduction of direct debit payment options for those buying six-month or yearly permits.
A decision on a proposal to extend the time limit in the county’s short stay car parks from two hours to four was also deferred by the latest meeting of the council’s policy and resources committee and is set to be determined by the full council meeting.
February income figures should a slight upturn from the post-festive period after ticket sales from the cashless machines fell below 10,000 for the first time the previous month.
At that point, a first-year income forecast of £146,000 was delivered.
That does not include the six-figure cost of purchasing the cashless ticket machines, a number of which have been vandalised, including open in Kirriemuir which was vandalised with paint last week.
The authority was asked for the full six-month financial figures for the scheme but declined to respond.
