Parks district copes with cuts

MetroParks will look to avoid personnel cuts, official says.

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By Tristan Navera, Staff Writer 12:45 AM Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Budget reductions are forcing tough decisions for Dayton’s scenic getaways.

Five Rivers MetroParks newest numbers indicate the district will lose at least 5 percent of its $22.2 million budget each year until 2020. The losses come from a projected loss of $1.2 million in funding each year thanks to loss in local property values. The district also will lose an undetermined amount of funding when Ohio ends its Commercial Activity Tax by 2014, said Val Beerbower, a communications specialist with the MetroParks.

The Board of Park Commissioners will meet later this month to determine the next course of action.

The MetroParks have enjoyed stable operating budgets since 2008. “We have to look at where we sit and how much we have to make up,” Beerbower said.

The 2012 budget, she said, will have to make the parks more efficient, something she said she thinks will start with internal consolidation without cutting staff. The parks employ 160 full-time, 70 part-time, and 50 seasonal employees as well as more than 2,500 volunteers.

Creating park fees is also a last resort for the parks, Beerbower said.

Instead, she said the parks will likely focus on “working smarter,” ranging from shifting personnel and consolidating offices to make work more efficient, to increasing community partnerships to save money while achieving common goals with other community groups, she said.

The MetroParks are not the only local parks suffering from decreased funding. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has a two-year budget of $620 million for the next two years — $16 million less than what it had in 2006-2007.

State parks increased their camping fees by $1 at the beginning of this year, said Jason Fallon, ODNR’s public information coordinator.

“Any fee we increase have to have legislative approval,” Fallon said, adding no further increases are planned for park services. “All our (prices) are staying the same.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2206 or tnavera@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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