Like a canary in a coal mine, the Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation Department has long been fighting for survival. For nearly a decade, the department has endured cuts that many of the city and county’s departments are now just facing.
And now, the department is leading the way in trying to wean itself from a shaky general fund and find a way to create “sustainable and stable funding,” parks director Pete Mayer told the Vancouver City Council on Monday afternoon.
The department is forming a “blue ribbon committee” to work with rural cities in the county to create a regional system of parks, trails and recreation services.
“More than taking what we do today and doing it better, it’s really asking, ‘What do we want the parks system to be in the future?’” Mayer explained last week.
Financed by county and city general funds, Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation is competing for — and not getting — the same money that also funds public safety and numerous other programs.
Vancouver is in the process of cutting $6 million from its $131 million general fund; Clark County cut $12 million from its $112 million general fund.
As a result, the parks department has been growing weaker since 2001 — most recently, the county enacted $1.6 million in service cuts and fee hikes for its 2010 budget; Vancouver cut $400,000 and staff late last year.
Park impact fees and a Real Estate Excise Tax, also main revenue streams into the parks budget, are also drastically down.
Just what the future holds is yet to be seen, Mayer said.
Among the options that could be discussed by the committee: creation of a regional parks district that is funded and governed separately from the local governments; formation of an inter-government alliance; grant funding collaboration; and regional planning and management.
Bonds and/or levies, volunteers, community groups and businesses could all be future resources that may be tapped, Mayer said.
Clark County voters passed a levy in 2005 to form the Greater Clark Parks District, which provides for the construction and maintenance of 35 new parks, seven miles of walking trails and additional youth sports fields.
However, there is no money in the department’s budget for any other new parks or a full level of maintenance outside of that district. Numerous regional parks are not being serviced by county maintenance crews and are closed this winter to vehicle traffic.
His department has just started contacting the smaller cities, so Mayer said he does not know if they are interested in collaboration.
Still, he said there’s benefits at all levels.
“By coming together, we may very well be able to do more for some communities than they would be able to do on their own,” Mayer said.
Forming regional districts is not new to the area: The Clark Regional Wastewater District was created in 1958.
Doing something similar in parks “starts to make sense, particularly as the community urbanizes and expands” he said.
A blue ribbon committee on parks in King County discussed forming a parks district in 2001, Mayer told the council. Instead, they created a levy, which has passed twice since then.
“We don’t know where (the committee) may lead, but it’s the right conversation to be having,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunities for us to be doing better with what we have.”
The Vancouver City Council showed its support for the regional talks Monday.
“I applaud the direction you’re headed,” Councilor Larry Smith, who served as city parks and recreation director until 2003. “These are the types of services that provide us livability and quality of life.”
Councilor Jack Burkman said that whatever the solution to parks funding is, it must keep parks and recreation going for decades into the future.
“The system is not working right now — it’s broken,” Burkman said. “There is not sustainable revenue source. A lot of people don’t realize that.”
