But the Ballarat City Council has defended the price rises, the first of their kind in several years.

Parking fees in the city have increased from $1 an hour to $1.20 an hour.

The all-day parking rate has gone up from $3 to $4.

Some meters have already been changed over, with the rest to be adjusted during the 2010-11 financial year.

The increase was flagged in the council's budget, which was passed in June.

Alan Roberts, owner of Sturt Street's The Stag Salon said the increase was ''ludicrous''.

''Who else can get away with a 20 per cent increase?'' Mr Roberts said yesterday.

Cold Rock Ballarat owner Robyn Harmer said the increase was another imposition on small traders in central Ballarat.

''I think the council has done enough other stuff to put people off coming in to the city. Parking is the nail in the coffin,'' Ms Harmer said.

Other traders said customers carried one and two dollar coins but many did not have the extra 20c for the meter.

Ballarat City Council acting chief executive officer Jeff Pulford said there had not been a rise in the hourly rate since 2007.

''We think a 20c increase in three years is reasonable and we've attempted to minimise the impact of that by not allowing it to be greater at this stage,'' Mr Pulford said.

He said the city's parking rates still compared favourably with those in Geelong and Bendigo.

''We think it's a moderate increase, but of course we're aware that for our community any parking fee rise is an issue.''

The council did not get any objections to the price rise when the draft budget was advertised in May.

Commerce Ballarat executive officer Jodie Gillett said a small increase was reasonable given there hadn't been one for three years.

But she said the council needed to ensure parking was kept as affordable as possible so there was no negative impact on business in the city.

''Parking in Ballarat, compared to other areas, is still quite affordable, but we need to keep it that way,'' Ms Gillett said.