Some prominent Louisville business and community leaders are chipping in a total of $220,000 over each of the next two years to keep parking free at Waterfront Park.

Business executive Matthew Barzun, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and a member of Gannett's board of directors, led the effort to secure financial pledges from nine other local sources.

Their out-of-pocket support will fund operations of the financially starved Waterfront Development Corp. so it doesn't have to charge users to park on the riverfront. The waterfront corporation board earlier this year voted to charge $3 to park three hours at a Waterfront Park lot five days a week, but the board agreed to drop the plan if alternative funding was found.

The revenue is needed to offset the loss of state funding since 2014.

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The proposal to charge to park has been on hold since Mayor Greg Fischer and members of the Metro Council pledged recently to find an alternative to the unpopular idea of charging to park at the waterfront. The park gets about 2 million visitors a year.

Fischer spokesman Chris Poynter confirmed Monday that the mayor, waterfront officials, and Barzun will announce the private funding at a news conference at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday near the Big Four Bridge.

“These citizens have stepped up in a big way with their generosity,” Fischer said. “Our entire community owes them a debt of gratitude for their passion for Waterfront Park and the citizens of Louisville.”

The donors include the elite of Louisville's business and philanthropic community, including Brown-Forman and Humana shareholders.

The mayor's office identified the contributors as: Matthew Barzun and wife Brooke Brown Barzun; Ned and Nina Bonnie; Christina Lee Brown; Victoire and Owsley Brown III; Gill and Augusta Brown Holland; David and Betty Jones; Dan and Lisa Jones; Austin and Janie Musselman; Stephen Reily and Emily Bingham; and Matt and Fran Thornton. Matt Thornton is chairman of the Waterfront Development Corp.

Poynter said he wasn't certain if all of the donors were providing the same amount.

"A handful of deeply committed citizens who care about our community" have come up with the tentative short-term solution that would negate the need to charge users to park, Poynter said.

In addition, Poynter said Barzun is working on a longer-term answer to the financial problem. One possibility is an annual fundraiser to benefit the waterfront, Poynter said.

Metro Council members Bill Hollander, Barbara Sexton Smith, and Cheri Bryant Hamilton have been instrumental in helping to find alternative funding, officials said.

The $220,000 in aid is expected to be provided through the end of this fiscal year next June 30 and then again in the following fiscal year.

The funding will negate the need to charge for parking for the proposed five days a week – Wednesday through Sunday.

The waterfront agency has been hard-pressed for operations money ever since the state dropped all support three years ago — $420,000 a year. The 2016 General Assembly reinstated the funding. But Gov. Matt Bevin, focused on shoring up the state pension system, vetoed the appropriation. The administration has since provided limited discretionary state funding for some waterfront capital efforts.

Mayor Fischer had expressed support for charging to park at some special Waterfront Park events such as Waterfront Wednesday concerts, but the park officials said that would be impractical and unenforceable. Fischer later said he opposed the plan to charge for parking five days a week.

The waterfront agency has a budget of slightly more than $2 million a year. About half the money is now supplied by the city — but even city funding has fallen off at least slightly in recent years.

Most of the rest of the agency's funds come from fees that sponsors pay to stage events at the park — fees raised a year ago — and also from restaurant rentals and donations.

The agency has 18 staff members. David Karem, the waterfront agency's executive director, said the agency went through an exhaustive review of revenue-raising options. The agency cut salaries and travel, raised event-sponsor costs, and diverted capital money to fund operations.

Waterfront Park has about 450 parking spaces in eight lots. One lot near the Great Lawn has paid parking, because it is used by many downtown workers.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at 502-582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.