Memorandum
City of Lawrence
Parks and Recreation Department
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TO: |
Mayor and City Commissioners
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FROM: |
Ernie Shaw, Interim Director, Parks and Recreation Department
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Date: |
April 13, 2007
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RE: |
2008 Budget Transmittal Memo
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The Parks and Recreation Department continues to provide high-quality programs and services to the community. At every opportunity, we try to be efficient with our resources and effective with our staff in service delivery. We provide leadership in the development of quality of life initiatives in the community from new parks and trails to programming for seniors. We also are innovative in our approach to solve the challenges we encounter daily. The following outlines our 2008 budget request.
General Fund
The submitted operating budget shows a significant increase in equipment replacement for 2008. We have an increasing number of units having exceeded the “normal” operating life still in use. It is very important we adhere to a more aggressive replacement schedule for equipment and vehicles. This will assist us in avoiding expensive repairs and continuous downtime for equipment and vehicles. The Central Maintenance garage has reviewed our replacement list and agrees with our schedule.
We are requesting an additional staff member with an electrical expertise. As we have added facilities and increased workloads over the past 5 to 8 years, we have not adequately added staffing to keep pace with the electrical maintenance needs we’ve encountered. The reliable operation of electrical systems is a significant concern with respect to the delivery of departmental services. Systems, like ball diamond lights, gymnasium lighting, tennis court lights, pool pumps and security lighting (just to name a few), all need to function for delivering departmental programming, as well as use by the general public.
We are looking forward to the completion of several new park projects funded through bonds dedicated for the 2nd generation of park projects. We have submitted a project enhancement to cover additional maintenance expenses for the parks to be completed in 2007 and 2008.
We also look forward to a court decision on the ownership of Memorial Park Cemetery and have submitted a program enhancement to provide maintenance staffing for the facility.
Recreation Division
We have tried very hard to hold the line with a lean 2007 budget and are looking at slight increases in the areas of promotion, printing and advertising that were cut considerably in 2007.
We understand the need to increase projected revenues, but the cost of printing materials, promoting our programs/activities and advertising them to the public is paramount to meeting this goal. Also, we’ve learned Administrative Services has reduced their assistance in the recruitment of applicants for staffing our many programs/activities. Our desire is to have our allocation for advertising and promotion at the 2006 budget level, which adequately funded the needs in this area. Other changes reflected in our 2008 request include: transferring some funding from Contractual Services to Commodities to better reflect actual spending; a slight increase in the budget lines reserved for Trainings, Conferences and Lodging due to the increase in supervisor training requirements/expectations. Also, the Kansas Recreation and Park Association, which is our professional association is holding its annual conference in Wichita in 2008 requiring overnight lodging for our department professional representatives. We also show a slight increase in the Part-Time Personnel line to assist with the delivery of additional programs, as well as merit increases for returning instructors, officials, and other part-time personnel.
All additional budget requests in the Recreation Division, other than full-time positions, are supported with the projected increase in revenue. We are projecting an increase of $32,000 in 2008 revenues over what is projected for 2007. Our 2008 projection also does not reflect the proposed increase in Aquatic Division rates. This projected increase will more than cover the increases in the operations budget ($21,030) other than full-time positions.
We also recommended a small program enhancement to start our seniors programs, which is rapidly becoming a new market for program development. While we are requesting additional funds for this operational program, we anticipate revenues to surpass expenses. We are also recommending Karen Risner, administrative support – level III, be elevated to the 905 level to better classify what she does for the department in relation to the City’s salary structure.
We continue the discussion of additional indoor space to accommodate program growth, and we appreciate your confidence in us to manage and operate the Carnegie Community Center in the future. We have included an enhancement for the operations and maintenance needs to run the facility if it were to become operational in 2008.
Golf Course
With 2006 being one of the best revenue years in its young history, we anticipate continued interest and enthusiasm in golf at Eagle Bend Golf Course and Learning Center in 2008. We know the renovations to the Lawrence Country Club course brought many of its members to Eagle Bend in 2006, but we are confident that a strong maintenance program, the good pricing value and friendly staff will continue to bring back its membership to Eagle Bend. We have also restructured our tournament packages and are seeing increased interest from groups to hold golf outings and tournaments at Eagle Bend. The addition of 12 carts in 2007 has also allowed us to accommodate larger tournaments and compete with other courses in the area, offering five-somes to play together.
We do not recommend any increase to green fees for 2008, allowing us time to evaluate our current price structure and to continue development of relationships with patrons who began repeat business with us in FY 2006.