Please attend the County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday or send them an email by Monday noon. The details follow:
On Tuesday 7/17 the County Parks Department is on the Board of Supervisors agenda with a proposal for a budget adjustment of $560,738.00 for the current fiscal year and implementation of Cost Recovery policy. The Cost Recovery Policy would provide a budget formula going forward from this fiscal year to cover services that Parks provides which are a "community benefit" and do not generate fees. This budget formula comes after a in-depth study and survey by Green Play, who are a nationally recognized consultant group that works with parks and recreation departments throughout the US. Some of you may have attended a focus group or meeting when they were here gathering data and learning about the services our County Parks Dept provides and what our community wants to see in the future.
I have attached the link to the agenda item but I warn you it is pretty “wonky". But this Parks proposal is of crucial importance as it will determine the future of County trails. If it passes new trails (El Chorro, Lopez, SML, etc.) and trail maintenance are possible. If it does not pass trails will stay stuck in the status quo with organizations like CCCMB carrying the full burden of doing maintenance and minimal new trail construction.
The short version is that Parks has been trying to balance their budget with the same amount of $$ from the General Fund these past 10 years (no increase, not even cost of living) and actually there has been a decrease in the % of General Fund from .8% to .7%. And in that annual contribution from the General Fund there has never been any money budgeted for trail maintenance/development or many of the other community benefit services like dog parks and playgrounds.
On top that there $6 to $10 million backlog in deferred maintenance in most of the County Parks, so things just don't get fixed. When things don't get fixed in a timely manner, it only costs more to fix or replace it later on.
Parks Department has increased fees over that 10 year period but 5 Regional Parks generate those fees and it is not sustainable to keep raising fees to cover the other Community Benefit Services that Parks provides.
We need a 4/5 vote on Tuesday and it is important for parks supporter to be heard, especially districts 1,4, and 5. Please attend if you can. The agenda item should be right after lunch at 1:30 pm.
If you can't attend please send an email by noon Monday 7/16 to:
- community parks like Heilmann, Vineyard and Nipomo serve the whole county and those services should be covered by the General Fund
- the County has many easements throughout the County that with funding could become part of the public trail system which would serve the health and well being of our residents and also benefit tourism
- the County population has had a large increase in the last decade and we can’t expect Parks to provide services without a guaranteed annual budget that will help provide those services
- County Parks should have the financial ability to help their volunteer groups with both funding and staff time on community benefit services like off leash dog parks, community pools and trails. These community benefit services can't depend on committed volunteer groups to do all the work and pay all the bills.
Thank you very much,
Kathy Longacre, TAC Greg Bettencourt, CCCMB
SLOPOST