Staff recommends the continued use of General Fund, Park Maintenance Districts, and Park District #1 to fund park operations and maintenance in the interim until the General Fund portion of the Park's Budget is transitioned into Park District #1.  Using Park District #1 over a levy is preferred because of the flexibility to quickly raise or lower the annual assessment depending on the need. For example; when a park is developed the PD1's assessment could be raised to cover the additional maintenance costs.

Staff is also recommending that new park development be funded through a general obligation bond. Additionally, a recommendation of a $250,000 matching grant program that would be funded through PD1 assessments. General obligation bonds would give the community control over the decision of how and when parks are developed.  The $250,000 matching grant program will help to leverage partnerships improving community support for PD1 as neighborhoods see the improvements. General obligation bonds require voter approval and allow significant investment with inexpensive financing.

The National Recreation and Park Association recognizes 3 maintenance levels.  Level 1 is associated with sports fields where enhanced maintenance is necessary for the safety of participants.  Level 2 is the most common industry standard for parks and consists of weekly mowing and trash service, annual aeration, and pesticide application.  Fertilizer and pesticides would be applied two to four times per year in level 2 maintenance.  Level 3 applies more towards natural areas.  The Billings Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Plan determined that Billings does not meet the Level 2 service standards for park maintenance, because of the shortfall in both funding and personnel.  Since the comprehensive master plan was completed in 2017, park amenities have increased with the addition of 4 restrooms, 4 playgrounds, 43 acres of developed parkland, Yellowstone Kelly's Interpretive Site, and additional trail segments, but have not received additional funding or staffing to care for these added amenities.  In addition, the Comp Plan recommended that we establish a work order Management System and build 2 satellite maintenance facilities as a way to reduce travel time.  Satellite maintenance facilities would minimize the amount of time employees spend driving, increasing productivity by the equivalent of adding 1 additional full-time employee.  City Works software has been purchased and implementation is underway to better track staff time and expenses.

Currently, the department has approximately $575,000 in unmet staffing needs according to the Comp. Plan.  This includes an Arborist, 2 Equipment Operators, 6 Seasonal Park Attendants, a Park Supervisor, an Asset Coordinator, and a Business Manager.  The City's urban forest has grown to a point where one Arborist can't maintain safety standards.  As our parkland and trails inventory increases, we need 2 additional Equipment Operators and 6 Seasonal Park Attendants to maintain the current service levels.  To ensure timely completion of capital projects an additional Park Planer is needed.  Our current park maintenance staffing level of 13 full-time and 50 seasonal positions, already exceeds the ability of a single Park Supervisor to provide adequate guidance and direction.  In order to accurately track park assets and staff time an Asset Coordinator will be necessary and a Business Manager is also needed to manage our department's budgets and day-to-day transactions.

Billings is currently spending $3,665.42 per acre which is $2,534.58 less than the National Parks and Recreation Association best-practice standard for park maintenance of $6,2000 per acre.  The 2 proposed Equipment Operators and 6 seasonal Park Attendants will increase our current spending per acre by $222.42 decreasing the number of acres per FTE from 23.76 acres to 21.06 acres which is still higher than National Recreation and Park Association best practice standard of one FTE to 20 acres.  The addition of more parkland and facilities, increasing usage of parks and trails, and the demand for sports field space are causing park maintenance levels to continue to decline.

There are 6 major mechanisms for funding park operations and maintenance which include; general fund, special districts, a dedicated levy, user fees, and privatization.  Billings Parks are currently funded through the general fund, a special district, user fees, and 36 park maintenance districts.

Completed projects that were identified in the Community's 2017 Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Plan include; Ponderosa Park playground remodel, Primrose Park playground remodel, Castle Rock master plan, Coulson Park master plan, Riverfront Park road repairs, North Park irrigation system replacement, Optimist Park playground replacement and parking lot construction.  In addition to the completed projects, the Central Park tennis courts rebuild, shelter at Optimist Park, Phase 1 development of Centennial Park, Lillis Park playground remodel, Rose Park playground remodel, and Terry Park playground remodel are maintenance projects that are underway and were also identified in the Community's 2017 Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Plan.  Since 2013 over $8.2 million in projects have been completed or are in progress that were not included in the 2017 Parks and Recreation Plan.  These projects became priorities due to outside influences including; grants and donations, fires and TIF district funding becoming available.

The Trust for Public Lands survey will identify the Community's top priorities and the Community's willingness to support the development of their priorities.  Constructing a multigenerational recreation center and continuing the master plan implementation of Castle Rock Park, Poly Vista Park, and Centennial Park has been identified as the Department's priorities. 

Four funding options for park development have been identified and include; cash-on-hand, revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, and donations.  The cash-on-had option includes TIF Districts, General Fund, Park District #1, and Cash-in-Lieu.  General obligation bonds require voter approval and allow significant investment with inexpensive financing but are not a good tool for maintenance because the levy goes away once the debt is paid off.  Revenue bonds can be done quickly but will have a higher interest rate than a general obligation bond.  As was stated earlier staff recommends the continued use of General Fund, Park Maintenance Districts, and Park District #1 to fund park operations and maintenance in the interim until the General Fund portion of the Park's Budget is transitioned into Park District #1.  Using Park District #1 over a levy is preferred because of the flexibility to quickly raise or lower the annual assessment depending on the need.  Staff is also recommending that new park development be funded through a general obligation bond. Additionally, a recommendation of a $250,000 matching grant program that would be funded through PD1 assessments.  General obligation bonds would give the community control over the decision of how and when parks are developed.  General obligation bonds require voter approval and allow significant investment with inexpensive financing.  The $250,000 matching grant program will help to leverage partnerships improving community support for PD1 as neighborhoods see the improvements.

The Park, Recreation, and Cemetery Advisory Board recommends using a mill levy with either bonds or pay-as-you-go to fund both operations and development but would use the Trust for Public Land survey to determine voter intent and then base an actual policy decision on the results of the survey.










 

 

Should Council decide to move forward there could be fiscal effects