“If you vote against (the free parking) you vote against the veterans of this city,” said Merulla.

Ward 3 councillor Matthew Green said he was confident veterans would not “abuse the system.”

“We do have a moral obligation to support veterans,” he said.

Parking officials have said allowing free parking to all veterans could cost the city upwards of $1.4 million annually, a figure that was hotly denied by Glanbrook councillor Brenda Johnson.

She believed the cost was “inflated.”

Johnson said veterans have pitiable pensions and don’t have the protection of unions that police and firefighters do.

“Retired police and firefighters make good money,” she said.

Councillors did vote to remove RCMP officers from receiving free parking from the motion.

An estimated 270,000 residents are eligible to use a Canadian Legion-approved provincial veterans’ license plate. Only about 44,500 had been issued last year. There are about 11,000 Hamilton veterans and if half use the free parking for five hours a week, the amount of parking revenue lost would be about $1.4 million.

The city’s revised free-parking legislation will reverse the current policy that council adopted in 2009. It has cost taxpayers about $90,000 annually for the service. The city’s parking system provided 350 permits to Hamilton veterans who had served in the Second World War, the Korean War or had reached 60 years of age. The permits were for municipal lots.

Hazell said the city’s current parking permit procedure will be rolled into the new bylaw. He said staff will have to conduct further administrative work to make sure eligible veterans will be able to take advantage of the new policy.

Staff will monitor the progress of the system over the next year, concentrating how it will impact the downtown and how much revenue the city will lose.