JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Football fans planning on heading to RV City for this year's Florida-Georgia game should get ready to shell out some extra cash. A four-day parking pass for RVs is going to run an extra $100 this year.
The Daniel family has been taking their RV to Florida-Georgia game for nearly 15 years, but this year they're going to be rooting for their Gators with a little less money in the wallet. They said if fees for parking this RV continue to go up, they may have to end what's become a family tradition.
"This is where we stay, all week," said Deanie Daniel.
The Daniel's RV is their home away from home during the Florida-Georgia game, but after the price hike this year, Deanie Daniel fears her budget might bust.
"I said, ‘they went up again. $100 this year!' And I said, ‘it's increased to 500 percent,' which I think is a big increase," said Daniel.
The cost to park an RV in RV City this year is $125 a day. Multiply that by four days and that's $500 for the weekend. Daniel said compared to last years $400 fee, she expects more for her money.
"Unless they're giving us something else, I feel like we definitely need more Port-O-Lets to handle the Friday and Saturday crowds and the security. I mean, they do the best they can, but sometimes they're a little slow because I think they have a lot going on," said Daniel.
The City of Jacksonville sent Channel 4 a statement Wednesday night about the cost of parking in RV City:
"The total cost of parking at RV City during the Florida-Georgia weekend goes toward the services and enjoyment for RV guests. That includes helping pay the costs for maintaining operations through the week, clean up and the personnel who make it an enjoyable place to witness a great college football event."
"If the city was to decide to increase the fees even more moving forward for next year, do you think you guys will go?" Channel 4's Adrienne Moore asked Daniel.
"No. We actually talked about there's another lot down the street, that's a big lot. We actually talked about it this year, but we already had told people we'd be down there, so we said we'll go ahead and do it, but if they go up again - no, we'll look for another alternative or we won't go at all," said Daniel.