Downtown parking fees will rise, but not as much as some had feared.

The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday approved setting parking-meter rates at 25 cents per hour — a small increase from the current rate of 25 cents every 90 minutes, but much less than the 50 cents per hour that had been proposed.

Fines for parking overtime will stay at $2 per ticket, but “habitual violator” fines — for drivers who get six or more parking tickets in a 30-day period — will rise from $15 to $50.

Mayor David Dunfield had supported raising parking ticket prices to $5.

“Frankly, a $2 ticket is not a disincentive to park illegally,” Dunfield said. Commissioner Sue Hack agreed.

But Maria Martin, co-director of Downtown Lawrence Inc., said merchants feared such an increase would drive shoppers away from downtown. And other commissioners agreed.

“For some people who go downtown, $5 is a lot of money,” Commissioner David Schauner said.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to the new rates.

Motorists who leave their cars in the parking garage at 10th and New Hampshire streets park free for the first two hours. The city also has 67 free parking spaces in the parking lot at Borders Books Music & Cafe at 700 N.H.; those spaces soon will be transferred to a new condominium project along Eighth Street, and many will be metered.

Parking-meter revenues totaled $157,470 through the first six months of 2003. Parking fines brought in an additional $154,109. Officials were unsure what the increased fees would bring to city coffers.

Commissioners directed city staffers to draft an ordinance reflecting the changes.

Officials said they did not know when that ordinance would be on the commission agenda.