ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - Despite the pandemic and the beach being closed for weeks, the City of St. Pete Beach ended its fiscal year with a $900,000 revenue surplus, according to Mayor Al Johnson.

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"We're really looking forward to using that wisely," said Mayor Johnson. "We sent the City Manager back to the drawing board and said 'you sit down with your staff and figure out the best place to spend it.'"

The Mayor said two revenue sources, parking fees and building permits, played a big role in the surplus.

Back in May, the city raised its hourly parking rate by 50-cents an hour, from $2.75-to-$3.25. The rate hike happened after the county closed all Pinellas beaches in March for 6 weeks to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Johnson said the beach closure along with coronavirus safety measures created a pent up demand to go to the beach.

"There's not much else they could do," he said. "Everything, all the museums were closed, the restaurants were barely operating and the bars were closed. So, everybody was going to the beach. We were jammed up."

The Mayor said the other interesting phenomena that helped boost revenues was the amount of building permits pulled. 

"Our permit income has gone right off the roof. I mean it's been great," he said. "It's a pretty sizable piece of our income."

Johnson said the increased demand for permits is also related to the pandemic because people have begun reinvesting in their homes. 

The City Manager announced the $900,000 budget surplus during a meeting last month. The new fiscal year for the city began on October 1.