Department of Parks & Recreation 2011-2012 Proposed Budget

1. Department of Parks & Recreation2011-2012 Proposed Budget Carol K. Everson Director of Fin & Admin Services September 27, 2010

2. A Difficult Budget Year • Longest and deepest recession since WWII • City faced 2011 $67 million revenue shortfall • City must have balanced budget • In 2010 Adopted Budget, Parks was 9.3% of General Fund (GF) expenditures, 21.2% of non-public-safety GF goes to Parks • Parks, Mayor, and City Budget Office (CBO) explored many options, but none were “good” • “Business as usual” was not an option.

3. 2011 Baseline Budget2011 Cost of Providing 2010 Level of Service (all figures are in million dollars) • One-time costs include furloughs and use of ARC and Pro Parks fund balances • Inflation assumes 2% COLA (later reduction shown as cut) • New Facility O&M are costs of operating and maintaining new or expanded facilities that come on-line from 2009 through 2011. • Aquarium transition began July 1, 2010. Employees may remain City employees up to 5 years with Seattle Aquarium Society reimbursing City

4. From Baseline to Proposed • Target cuts between $8.7 and $13.2 million • Cut net $10.2 million of expenditures • Raise net $1.7 million of additional non-GF revenues • Saves GF $12.0 million • Reduce staff by 103.33 FTEs, Many more positions affected because many positions reduced rather than abrogated

5. Guiding Principles • Race and Social Justice: Ensure equitable access to parks and recreation facilities across the city. • Diversity of Opportunities: Provide a diverse range of park and recreation choices and opportunities. • Capacity Building: Explore new ways to deliver our services and programs by developing a flexible and innovative work force and enhancing our understanding of the communities we serve. • Partnerships: Strengthen existing partnerships and develop new partnerships to support our mission and maximize the use of our recreation facilities in the face of declining resources • Asset Preservation: Preserve living and built infrastructure

6. Service Impacts • We worked with the Mayor’s Office to preserve services to the public • We used fund balance, took administrative reductions, and raised fees and charges • We recognized savings from better handling of risks and investments in energy efficiency • Our represented employees agreed to a COLA reduction BUT • With $10.2 m expenditure reductions (on top of the $6 m reduction in the 2010 adopted budget) some service impacts are unavoidable

7. Detail on Adds(Cuts) – slide 1 • Rainier Beach Community Center and Pool closed for construction, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (LHPAC) to reopen in 2012, capital funded positions reduced commensurate with amount of capital work • Administrative reductions include reduction of 5.5 FTE of Managers and Strategic Advisors. • Half of surplus 2009 fund balance used in mid-year 2010 with remaining half used in 2011 (-$0.8 m), judgment and claims (-$0.5 m), training reduced (-$0.1 m) utilities savings (-$0.2 m) (by 2012 rate increases mean utilities is add of $0.4 m). • COLA is 0% for broadband employees, 0.6% for fixed wage employees

8. Detail on Adds(Cuts) – slide 2Non-GF Revenues • Implement new fees and charges policy • Based on cost of service, benefit to individual or society, and market comparison • Fees increase for athletic fields, boat ramps, Camp Long, Japanese Garden, picnics and ceremonies, swimming pools and tennis. New fee for plan review. • Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs (OACA) uses Admission Tax revenue to support downtown and neighborhood Parks arts programming and LHPAC.

9. Detail on Adds(Cuts) – slide 3 Maintenance • Park maintenance FTE reduced by 14% despite expanding system • More of ballfield preparation falls on users, our crews concentrate on safety • Evening and peak season cleaning and grounds maintenance reduced • Arboretum and Kubota Gardens less well maintained • Pruning cycle falls from current 17 yrs to 22 yrs (standard is 5-7 yrs) • Fewer acres of restored forest can be maintained • Facilities maintenance FTE reduced by 10% with no reduction in facilities • Apprenticeship program is eliminated • Fence and gate repair only for safety issues • Focus painters on graffiti. Facilities become less well maintained (repaint CC every 14 yrs instead of every 10 yrs).

10. Detail on Adds(Cuts) – slide 4 Recreation Facilities • 1 CC is closed for construction, 5 CC have limited use, other 20 CC are status quo • Diverse limited use models used to see what works and what doesn’t • Alki and Ballard > Associated Recreation Councils (ARC )Partner Model. • Queen Anne > New Partner Model • Laurelhurst > Senior-Focused Program Model • Green Lake > Visitor & Customer Service Center Model • Green Lake and Mount Baker Small Craft Centers begin transition to self-sustaining, ARC-run facilities , wading pools at 2010 service level, only pool closed is for construction, all beaches remain guarded • Environmental Learning Centers> retain school-based and ARC sponsored programs (including nature preschool and summer day camps), eliminate public programs (seek new partners to offer public programs),

11. Detail on Adds(Cuts) – slide 5 Strengthen Programs and Partnerships • Especially in challenging times, certain areas need to expand to support creative efficiencies and revenue generation • Focus existing staff on getting new grants and creating new partnerships • Position in event scheduling to replace contract coordination of major City-wide events • Economist position to work on fees and charges reviews and do cost-benefit analysis on new partnership proposals • In these difficult economic times we also need to invest in our youth by providing life-changing work experience • Expand youth employment programs to serve an additional 105 youth

12. Parks Division Details In 2011, Parks Division Budget proposes $3.4 million (-7%) in programmatic cuts from baseline (original budget). 1 46 Vacancies across Division will help lower the number of people impacted.

13. Park Resources – Cleaning & Landscaping • Ballfield Program • Gypsum lining, pre-practice and game dragging of baseball and softball fields would be transferred to athletic field users. Painting of football and soccer lines will continue by crews, but at a reduced frequency. Goal is to keep fields safe. • Year-round Evening and Second Shift Cleaning • Maintain 3 crews, located in North, Central and South regions of the city (a reduction from 5 current crews). • Peak Season Service (Reduced from 8-6 months - May-Oct) • Capacity to service heavily used parks picking up litter and garbage, cleaning up after events, hand-watering turf and doing basic turf and shrub bed work would be reduced. • Expanded Routes/Lowered Frequency of Service • In this time of declining resources we have chosen to preserve our most flexible and skilled job titles. Frequency of contact with parks would be reduced given the larger scope of work per employee.

14. Environmental Learning • The proposed budget retains school-based programs, Nature Day Camp and Nature pre-school, and other programs sponsored by the Associated Recreation Councils • Eliminates Parks sponsored public nature and environmental learning programs • Closes the Carkeek ELC Visitor Center to the public; will remain available for rentals and ARC programs. • Grounds maintenance staff levels are unchanged, cuts 2.5 FTE program staff • Increases emphasis on finding partners to help provide programs and services

15. Natural Resources Unit • Kubota Garden (Retains 4, cuts 1.5 FTE) • Estimated 50,000 annual visitors each year and 28 weddings. If the garden receives this cut, the site may not be as desirable a wedding location. • Arboretum (Retains 3, cuts 1.5 FTE) • Arboretum visitors (~250,000 annually) would see the park less tidy, less maintained with more litter and longer grass on the fields and turf around Arboretum drive way, Foster Island, and the meadow area. Stop or slow Azalea Way Project. • Tree Crew (Retains 2 of 3 Tree Crews – cuts 2 FTE) • Loss of tree crew would delay maintenance and result in trees not receiving the timely attention necessary to sustain good health in the City’s urban environment, leading to disease, hazardous conditions and early removal of the trees. Estimated 100,000 trees in developed parks. • Natural Area Crew (Retains 5, Cuts 2 FTE) • Natural areas cover 50% of DPR’s 6400 acres. The Natural Area Crew stewards 500 acres of land that were brought into restoration by the Green Seattle Partnership over the past 5 years. These acres are the result of over $10 million in City CIP and private donations, and 400,000 volunteer hours.

16. Facility Maintenance • Apprentice Program (Cuts 3 FTE) • Although the Apprentices have not reached journey level, their expertise has increased and their absence will result in slower completion of larger projects, less preventive maintenance and slower response to demand work requests. • Fence Crew (Cuts 2 FTE) • Requests for non-safety-related and non-emergency fence and gate repair will take longer to complete. • Metal Crew (Retains 2, Cuts 2 FTE) • 37% reduction in capacity. Shop priorities will be emergency and safety related repairs and fabrication, and support of pool and community center scheduled maintenance. • Paint Crew (Retains 5, Cuts 4) • Currently, the cycle for repainting the interior of community centers is on a 10-year cycle. A 10-year cycle is already a long cycle considering the high-use of the community centers. This reduction would extend the cycle to approximately 14+ years. Paint Shop operations will continue to focus on graffiti abatement citywide.

17. Budget Schedule • Sept 27 – Mayor presents budget to Council • Sept 29 – Council public budget hearing, Northgate Community Center, 5:30 PM • Sept 30 – Parks presents budget overview to Council – 2:00 PM • Oct 13 - Council public budget hearing, South Seattle Community College, 5:30 PM • Oct 15 – 25 – Council issue identification • Oct 26 - Council public budget hearing, Council Chambers, 5:30 PM • Oct 28 – Nov 12 – Council discusses and votes on options • Nov 22 – Council adopts 2011 budget • Jan 4 – 2011 Budget position actions take effect