parking permits

The parking permit for local residents was introduced in the late nineties as a way to increase revenue lost by parking spaces otherwise used for visitors.
By charging the hotliers and residents a fixed fee for a year Weymouth and Portland council then started collecting the revenue lost by charging the locals for the privelage of parking near their home or business for periods of over 1 hour.

Since I lived in the town center I have heard from several sources that the charges from an introductary fee have increased vastly how can the council possibly justify this?