Honolulu residents will get a small grace period on the increase in parking meter fees at the Honolulu Zoo.

The city budget calls for increasing the 25 cents-per-hour fee to $1 tomorrow, but it will take city workers more time to adjust the parking meters.

Meanwhile, other planned increases — such as property taxes, bus fares, golf and Hanauma Bay fees — will take affect as scheduled tomorrow, the start of the new fiscal year.

The Honolulu Police Department's parking meter maintenance division couldn't start creating new pricing inserts for the meters until the budget became law on Friday. As a result, officials said, the meter increases won't happen immediately.

It could be either the end of this week or early next week, but the only thing drivers need to know is that "whatever the parking meter says is the rate, that's the rate," said Department of Transportation Services director Wayne Yoshioka.

The department is adjusting the fees on about 400 meters, Yoshioka said. Parking fees at the Honolulu Zoo will go to $1 an hour, up from 25 cents. Rates along Kalakaua Avenue in front of Kapi'olani Park will go from 25 cents to 50 cents an hour.

Raising revenue was a major reason for the increase, but Department of Parks and Recreation Director Lester Chang said the new law also discourages business employees or residents from parking in spots that are meant for park goers.

"One of the reasons parking meters are there is so nobody monopolizes the parking stall," Chang said. "This way, we can rotate the stall."

BUS FARES RISING

While recalibrating the parking meters at the zoo may take a while, a wide variety of other fees and taxes are expected to go up as scheduled tomorrow.

Adult bus fares will go from $2 to $2.25, and adult bus passes will go from $40 to $50. Youth and visitors' passes will both rise to $25.

Roger Morton, O'ahu Transit Services president and general manager, said decals displaying the new fares will be placed on the fare boxes of each of the city's 531 buses as they start returning to the bus yard for refueling at 6 tonight.

"I don't think there'll be any great logistical issues at all," Morton said, adding that each bus is equipped with an electronic "smart box" that can be adjusted through a quick reprogramming. "We can communicate with the fare boxes every night as we take them out of the buses."

Twelve-month passes purchased under the old rate will be honored through the dates listed, Morton said.

GOLF FEES GOING UP

Additionally, golfers will pay more to play at municipal golf courses and rent carts. Admission to the zoo will increase, and nonresidents will have to pay more to enter the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.

The City Council raised certain fees and taxes to meet anticipated losses in revenues and allow major city services to continue, the administration said in its original submittal in March.

State tax increases also include a 2 cent tax hike on each cigarette and a gas tax that will most likely immediately raise the cost of gas, said Lowell Kalapa, director of the Tax Foundation of Hawai'i.

State increases will also raise the conveyance tax for certain real estate sales, and the hotel room tax.

Officials don't expect many complications as they adjust machines and change signs, based on the fee increases' publicity and advance notice residents have received.