A recently established city program is projecting earnings of approximately $1 million this year and is already providing vital funding to the city’s after-school youth programs and other cultural endeavors.

City councilors Michael Ross and John Tobin proposed the Enhanced Revenue Parking Program last May, after the Boston Cultural Agenda Fund was cut from the city’s proposed budget for the 2003 fiscal year, which cut city cultural funding by more than one third.

“So far we have restored $400,000 to the funding of cultural affairs and arts,” Ross said.

The Enhanced Revenue Parking Program dedicates money generated through parking infraction fees to the Boston Cultural Agenda Fund. The Cultural Agenda Fund provides money for not-for-profit city cultural events and programs, such as historic neighborhood tours, as well as various concerts and festivals. It supports 65 cultural programs annually

The Agenda also funds dozens of youth after-school programs including art, acting and photography classes, Ross said.

Boston’s multitudes of cultural offerings attract millions of tourists to the city each year, providing thousands of local employment opportunities and strengthening the city’s economy. According to the New England Council’s Creative Economy Initiative Study, 30 percent of tourists visiting Boston extend their visits based on Boston’s cultural offerings.

“While we recognize the current fiscal realities facing our local state and governments, we need to realize that investment in culture makes good economic sense and strengthens our city’s fiscal situation,” Arts/Boston’s Executive Director Catherine Peterson said in a press release at the time the proposal was passed.

Tobin and Ross are the chair and vice-chair of the city council’s Committee of the Arts, Humanities and Tourism. According to its mission statement, the committee “develops programs whereby city agencies encourage tourism and best display the assets of the city.” Tobin and Ross feel that funding the Cultural Agenda will help to fulfill that mission.

In order to increase the city’s parking fee revenue, the city raised ticket fees from $30 to $40, Ross said. The city also increased surveillance on vehicles parking illegally and overnight, ticketing more vehicles than it has in the past.

Tobin and Ross encountered some obstacles in getting the proposal passed. Vetoed from the proposal was a fee charge for residential parking stickers, which are currently free to city residents. Boston is one of the few major U.S. cities that does not charge a fee for residential parking permits.

Ross offered some advice to Boston University students who may not favor the increased fees and surveillance.

Bringing a car to Boston is “expensive and unnecessary,” he said. “We have a fairly decent public transportation system.”