The Town and County held their first scrimmage about regional recreational spending last week at a joint work session in the County Courthouse. The agenda called for a discussion of the new Yamaguchi Sports Center in South Pagosa. But the Town had a bigger game plan.
Town Manager David Mitchem opened discussions by distributing “a handout for you.” There was some irony here. According to the Town memo, regional spending for parks and recreation amounts to a big handout from the Town.
On the Town’s scorecard, park and recreation spending for years 2004-2009 totals $5,320,000, of which the Town paid $4,045,000 (76 percent), the County $350,000 (7 percent), the local school district $70,000 (1 percent) and the state $400,000 (16 percent).
Mitchem was characteristically gracious while presenting some hard ball numbers: “I just wanted to clearly state that the Town really appreciates the partnership, and the $350,000 the County has contributed these past two years, but at the same time recognize that a good percentage of the people that take advantage of recreational facilities and programs are County residents.”
Councilor Jerry Jackson supported Mitchem but prefaced his comments: “I don’t want to be the bad guy here.” Jackson, along with Councilor Darrel Cotton, played the part of the ‘bad guy’ during Town discussions of a proposed $16 million recreation center in the summer of 2007, questioning Town ability to construct, staff and maintain a regional recreation facility. Imagining the predicament of the Town in the midst of this recession — without funding to replace its aging sewer lagoons, but with revenues to construct a $16 recreation center project atop those lagoons — is not pretty.
Jackson noted, “The percentages are almost an exact flip. We have provided almost 80 percent of the funding and 80 percent of the usage is coming from the County. We kind of need to keep this on the table. ... It is a biggie for us. It is a major drain.”
 Commissioner John Ranson countered with examples of County-sponsored capital improvements to Town ballfields, funding of capital for new recreation programs and County readiness to spend more than a quarter million dollars on the Town-to-Lakes trail, concluding “We haven’t balked at all and we have stepped up.”
Not unlike some Olympic judging during the Cold War, the present dispute involves two very different scorecards.
For example, for 2009, the Town memo details $964,000 in total parks and recreation spending — $402,000 for operations plus $562,000 for capital improvements — with the Town spending $574,000, Archuleta County contributing only $30,000 and the state contributing $360,000.
Yet, the memo only details County contributions to Town projects, and ignores County spending on its own projects in 2009. For this fiscal year, in addition to the $30,000 in lottery funds contributed to the Town, the County has $416,000 in Ballot 1A money dedicated to park and recreation spending, $67,000 budgeted for the County Fairgrounds, and $250,000 in Conservation Trust moneys dedicated to an indoor riding arena. Assuming that 80 percent of Town park and recreation fees are also paid by County residents, total ‘County’ spending for parks and recreation spending exceeds $800,000.
These figures were not cited during the work session, however. The County preferred to play defense throughout the session, while the Town took the offensive for more money from both the County and local taxpayers. Why the Town, which receives $2400 in sales and property taxes per capita, should be pressing for more tax receipts and more support from the County, which receives $850 per capita from sales and property taxes, was also left undiscussed.
Commissioner Don Volger asked about asking for more support: “Practically speaking, how do you want us to approach you, talk with you, negotiate with you about the parks and recreation budget in trying to bring things into more of a balance?” Volger thanked the county commissioners for the $30,000 in lottery funds, but added “I sense that we will probably be asking for more.”
County Administrator Greg Schulte stated that County policy was to fund capital projects only: “We don’t fund operations and that’s not just you, it is everyone who seeks funding.”
Councilor Stan Holt tag-teamed Volger’s request: “The supervision of programs, maintenance, and hiring of umpires is a humongous item in the Town budget. ... Do you have a budget line that you could establish outside capital grant money for maintenance and staff? ... I would hate to see these programs for adults and kids cut back because we don’t have the funds. And we came very close last year.”
Schulte suggested, with no apparent enthusiasm, that appeals could be made directly to the BoCC, and none of the commissioners added their readiness to support Town staffing and maintenance costs.
Alternate approaches to funding Town leagues were discussed. County Attorney Todd Starr asked about user fees: “Since I have moved here two months ago I have been out on the fields twice a week on different teams and no one has showed up once and asked me for a dollar?” Mitchem noted that user fees were modest and meant to promote participation and not fully fund programs.
While the fees are modest, Town programs have gained in popularity over recent years. Recreation fees have reached $40,000 annually. When those fees are counted into the Town recreation budget, the part-time employment benefits to residents considered, and peripheral spending lines (such as the annual July Fourth fireworks show) are removed, Town Recreation Department spending is not nearly the budget buster it is cartooned to be.
County chair Bob Moomaw briefly outlined his experience with non-profit sports associations during his earlier career on a Town council in Florida which provided County-wide recreation: “It actually produced quite a bit of income. The sports association covered the operating costs while the Town provided the capital costs. ... They also had a scholarship program. It was an extremely successful program.”
Whatever the work-out, Councilor Mark Weiler emphasized the Town’s basic inability to continue to fund recreation programs at their present level: “We have done it out of a sense of community for a very long time. The reality is participants are going to have to bear the cost to use the facilities.”
Volger, an avid hunter, took note of the next agenda item, control of the growing prairie dog colony across from Town Hall, and suggested, “Can prairie dog control be considered a recreational activity?”
Given the coverage of Obama's fly swatting, how much free media would an elementary school prairie dog hunt earn for the Town. TTC take note. |