Sarah Bennett-Wake, of Macclesfield Town Council, which already has parking charges, said it seemed “only fair”.
She added: “If we don’t do things differently like in Macclesfield, we’ll end up with a section 114 [when a council is effectively bankrupt] and everything will be cut.”
A report ahead of the meeting said there would still be an £800,000 shortage and councillors were asked to consider a number of other recommendations.
Recommendations including cashless parking across the borough, charges on Sundays and charges on evenings were approved.
However, a proposal to start charges from 08:00 GMT, impacting school drop-off time, was rejected.
The measures would be subject to further public consultation.
Speaking after the meeting, Labour Cllr Crane said: “We are in a situation, as just about every council is, where we have to balance our books and those non-statutory services are at risk of being lost.
“To me it’s a better option to include a user pays approach rather than having to consider removing those car parks and releasing them into the private sector,” she said.
