Greenwood froze most of its budget for next year, but the city’s parks department will get one of the largest spending increases, again.
The Greenwood City Council this week heard the second half of Mayor Mark Myers’s proposed budget. In it, the Greenwood Parks and Recreation Department is set to receive a 21% increase.
Besides the parks department, fleet maintenance would receive the biggest increase at 23%, after moving into the Greenwood Public Works Department building and the additional operating costs associated with that, said Greg Wright, city controller. Fleet maintenance is responsible for maintaining and repairing city equipment and vehicles.
Next year’s total budget is $39.7 million, a 2.8% increase from this year’s budget.
Parks increase explained
While most departments were told their budgets would likely be frozen due to concerns surrounding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, there are a number of reasons the parks department may get an increase over others, mainly projects that are already in the works, said Greg Wright, the city’s controller.
The city is in the throws of the $9 million fieldhouse project, renovating the former middle school’s gymnasium on Madison Avenue so it can serve as an anchor for future development of the site. Plans for the fieldhouse include an elevated indoor running and walking track, two multi-purpose turf fields, which can be used for soccer, lacrosse and several other sports, basketball or volleyball courts, and several indoor pickle ball courts.
Set to open late next year, the fieldhouse requires the increase to pay for additional staff and clothing, supplies, marketing and utilities, Wright said.
"That’s why you will see increases to the parks where other places have flatlined," he said.
Much of that will be offset by the food and beverage tax the city council passed last fall, which is expected to generate about $1.2 million next year, Wright said. The parks department will split its expenses equally between the general fund and the food and beverage tax fund, the only department that is doing so, Wright said.
"One of the main things the state allowed us to do with that is to fund parks and recreation," he said.
The implementation of the tax is "great timing," officials have said, as it is helping to offset the financial hit the parks department took as a result of the pandemic, said Robert Taggart, parks and recreation director.
"I don’t know what the result would be without that, but I can say we would be in different shape than what we are now," he said.
Additionally, Freedom Springs Aquatics Park will is scheduled for contracted maintenance next year, Taggart said. The aquatics park will also need new staff clothing and life jackets, and pay for slide restoration and repainting all the pools, Wright said.
If it weren’t for pool maintenance and fieldhouse costs, both of which were already in the works before the pandemic struck, the parks budget would likely be frozen as well, Taggart said.
The proposed budget would bring the parks department’s total budget to $3.9 million, up from $3.2 million this year. The parks department also received a significant increase this year — 14% — to add several new staff members, including assistant director, and prepare for upcoming projects.
"The city doesn’t really prioritize one department over the other," Taggart said. "We certainly aren’t prioritized over public safety or anything like that, but I think they acknowledge the importance of quality of life."
On the flip side, revenue is down, particularly at the parks department, as a result of the pandemic. Canceled events, temporarily shutting down services and delaying summer activities put it in a bind.
"We’re a user-fee based department, so it (the pandemic) has had a great impact on what we do," Taggart said.
The department was expected to lose more than $200,000 at the pool alone, which operated at 50% capacity all season, Wright said. The water park reopened to season pass holders in June, weeks later than its usual opening, and did not open to day passes at all. Those daily passes typically make up a good chunk of Freedom Springs’ yearly revenue, he has said.
Wright told the city council this week he will not have Freedom Springs’ total revenue from the 2020 pool season for another couple weeks, but said it did not bring in as much as usual.
The city also lost more than $69,000 by canceling the Freedom Festival, its largest annual event, and about $37,000 by closing the community center to the public from March to the end of May, he said.
Weighing needs, remaining optimistic
The Greenwood Fire Department may also received a small increase in its budget next year, but that does not include funding for any new firefighters. Both the police and fire departments, which make up about 36% of the proposed budget, typically receive funding for new personnel each year, but neither department will add anybody this year, according to the city documents.
Fire Chief Darin Hoggatt is optimistic he may get to hire new firefighters though, if the city can generate enough revenue to reopen the budget mid-year for new hires, he said, a possibility that is being considered if the city’s finances stabilize next year.
If that happens, department heads, such as Hoggatt, could ask city council members to reopen next year’s budget, add an appropriation and amend the city’s salary ordinance to accommodate new positions, such as a firefighter or police officer, Wright said. Amending salary ordinances is common practice to hire new city staff, even after the budget is set, he said.
According to the proposed budget, the fire department would receive a 2.4% increase next year to raise the pay for part-time firefighters to $16 an hour from $14, Wright said. The increase is necessary to remain competitive with surrounding departments, he said.
"When they come on and get trained with us, they can go elsewhere and make at least $16. We’re just trying to get in line with what others are doing so that we don’t lose those good firefighters," Wright said.
The increase would bring the fire department’s total budget to $7.4 million.
If approved, all other departments’ budgets would stay the same, including the mayor’s office’s $530,000 budget and the city council’s $183,000 budget.
Next, a public hearing is set for Oct. 5. The city council will vote on the budget Oct. 19.
