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Visitors to Town Square will have to pay for parking a few more hours each day despite emotional pleas Monday night from about 20 local business owners who say it will hurt sales and possibly drive some out of business.

Mayor Susan R. Hoffmann proposed at the City Council meeting that the Oct. 5 implementation date be pushed back by one week, until Oct. 12, so the changes would not affect Rockville Restaurant Week, a promotional effort to get patrons into Town Square eateries.

But other than Councilman John Britton, who made the motion for the extension, there was no support for the measure that would have paved the way for a more permanent solution when the council met later next month.

There is no council meeting on Monday. The City Council's next scheduled meeting is Oct. 12, after the parking fee extension is scheduled to go into effect.

Hoffmann said she was "shocked" when her proposal for a weeklong extension failed to pass.

She said Councilwoman Phyllis R. Marcuccio had told her at noon on Monday that she would support the planned proposal.

"Not only did Mrs. Marcuccio say she would support delaying the implementation by a week, she said, and I quote, she was sure [Councilwoman] Anne [M. Robbins] would, too," Hoffmann said. "I cannot explain why she didn't do what she said she would do at noon."

Marcuccio denies she agreed to the extension.

"I had agreed to bring up the opportunity to talk about it, but I never agreed to the week," she said. "[Hoffmann] may have heard what she wanted to hear."

Robbins sided with Marcuccio, saying the business owners need to be involved in the discussion of a real solution.

Britton supported the one-week extension, but emphasized it was a temporary patch and more discussion was needed.

Councilman Piotr Gajewski said he would abstain from any vote that was brought up Monday on the issue, insisting it is necessary to put an item with "budgetary implications" on the agenda.

Extending the hours during which patrons must pay to park to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday (it is 7 p.m. now) will help pay for several downtown parking structures built as part of the Town Center development. City officials say the three city-owned garages in Town Square are not earning as much as expected and are being subsidized by taxpayer dollars.

The expanded hours were set to be implemented last fall, but the council postponed them in an effort to give the merchants a reprieve during the challenging economic times. The business owners have argued patrons will not pay to park in the garages.

Between $300,000 and $400,000 of revenue from the expanded hours has been included in the fiscal 2010 budget.

A recent cut in state funds means the city coffers will be $2.4 million lighter than expected in FY2010 and the general fund budget will have to be rebalanced in the coming weeks.

The business owners who testified during the citizen's forum portion of the meeting said that business has been slow and the situation is tenuous. If parking extensions go into effect, they are worried it will drive away customers, forcing some to go out of business.

Deborah Simon, owner of The Waygoose, a gallery of handcrafted items in Town Square, said watching the mayor's proposal get stopped last night was "disheartening and stressing because the whole process was derailed by politics."

Marcuccio and Hoffmann are opponents vying for the mayor's seat in the upcoming election.

"I was floored," Simon said. "Outside of Congress and small children, I've never seen such behavior. I just don't think this council has the ability to do anything at this point."

Marcuccio sent an e-mail to Hoffmann Tuesday requesting an emergency meeting of the council to work out a solution.

"The business community has repeatedly expressed their financial concerns, to the point of crisis for many," she wrote.

"We must address this parking issue with all the players involved," she added in the e-mail.

Owners or managers from almost all the stores and restaurants in Town Square addressed the council and pleaded for an extension or proposed alternatives, such as opening the top levels to Metro parking to bring in revenue.

"We've all got a lot of thinking to do," Simon said. "It's a very delicate time for all of us.