Griffith City Council is set to examine the feasibility of introducing paid parking in the central business district as part of a wider review of the main street.

Councillor Doug Curran said the transport and logistics committee would request a detailed evaluation of the main street following concerns over worsening traffic congestion.

He admitted the idea of installing parking meters would not be popular with many residents, but said they could potentially improve traffic flow while providing council a valuable source of revenue.

"Sometime soon I'll be asking staff in the transport and logistics area to begin an investigation just on (the) costing and applicability (of parking meters)," Cr Curran said.

"We're very short of funds and the main street does need some work and one way for getting money for the main street could be parking meters.

“It’s not going to be a popular decision ... but at the end of the day it might be a commercial reality.”

Parking meters could prove a financial windfall for the cash-strapped council, with fees of a dollar an hour potentially able to generate more than $2 million in revenue annually.

Mayor Mike Neville said he was not opposed to the idea given the pressure on council to maintain services in difficult economic times.

He said the NSW Government’s decision to peg rates increases at 2.6 per cent for the 2010-11 financial year illustrated the difficulties facing council.

“If all those funds are going back into amenities then I don’t think too many people are going to whinge about it,” Cr Neville said.

“If the transport and logistics committee are prepared to do some homework and bring it to council for consideration then it would be up to us to look at it.”

But the head of the Community Development Council of Griffith, Lance Perry, said parking meters would be simply be an easy way to bolster council’s coffers.

“If it was about raising money to seal Bringagee Road or other roads and infrastructure then fine, but I guarantee you it will go to something like an art gallery or a piazza or some other thing for the rich people in the town,” Mr Perry said.