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This, despite the fact each head typically holds no more than about $15 a day.

Chef Todd Perrin, co-owner of Mallard Cottage restaurant, has watched the parking debacle unfold with amazement.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to travel around a fair bit and I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said in an interview. “It’s not like a random one here or there. It’s almost as though someone is systematically going around trying to destroy every single parking meter in St. John’s.

“It’s just really, really strange. In a city that always could use more revenue, it’s a bit of a mind boggler.”

Photo by Sue Bailey / THE CANADIAN PRESS

The growing price tag for cash-strapped St. John’s city council is almost $1.5 million since 2015 in lost revenue, repairs and replacements.

“I’d describe it as extremely frustrating,” Breen said. “To see this amount of destruction happen at a significant cost to taxpayers is very disheartening.”

Long stretches of meters in various parts of the city’s downtown sit eerily headless, including one used to deposit empty Tim Hortons cups. All 136 parking spots on Harbour Drive, along the waterfront, are now free after the city decided not to replace those machines, Breen said.

Instead, a new cashless system will be tried for that area starting in June. Drivers will pay to park using a smart phone app or a 1-800 number.

Other areas will see a mix of new pay stations, meters and permits over the next five years as part of a system overhaul, said St. John’s City Coun. Debbie Hanlon.

Photo by Sue Bailey / THE CANADIAN PRESS

She blames mental health issues, poverty and drug addiction.

“Why else would someone take a baseball bat and beat off the top of a meter for $15? The average person wouldn’t do that.”

Hanlon hopes people gloating about free all-day parking downtown will keep this in mind: The $1.5 million lost so far could have gone a long way.

“That’s money that could go back in the roads, it could keep our taxes lower, it could improve the downtown. It’s losing money — and that’s unfortunate for all of us.”