Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 07/08/2004

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Chairperson Johns asked if this was an addition to or was it included in the current Park Fund. Ms. Lund stated it was a separate fund. She stated that there is The Park Improvement Revolving Fund and this fund is only for park improvements and construction but not upkeep. She stated they wanted to have a blended fund that would allow for acquisition and maintenance. Commissioner Olds asked where the funds for maintenance came from. Ms. Lund stated they are included in the general fund right now and subject to the levy limit. She stated this would allow any of the upkeep coming online with the new parks, if levy limits were to remain in place; they will always be contained to what is in the general fund budget for the park maintenance. This would allow for a rainy day sort of fund. Councilmember Elvig stated a lot of this started last year when they were struggling with some of their budgeting. He stated they ran into some overages in the General Fund and they were wondering how they were going to disperse some of those funds. What the Park Commission is running into is they are developing the community but they do not know how they are going to pay for maintenance in the long term when the opportunity for new gowth has stopped and they cannot keep the new gowth happening. He stated this way, they can put some dollars into a fund sort of like an endowment and they would have something they would pull off of on a yearly basis. Chairperson Johns asked where the funds were coming from. Councilmember Elvig stated they were coming from development dollars. Chairperson Johns stated they were designating a specific portion of park dollars to this maintenance fund. Councilmember Strommen stated these are surplus funds at the end of the year. She stated currently they do not have anything for park maintenance. Discussion ensued in regards to how this idea was brought up in the City Council and how the fund could be used along with possible park user fees. Councilmember Elvig asked if they had an issue with a cap on this fund. Finance Officer Lund stated she did not kmow of any cap because the State lumps all of the money together. Mayor Gamec stated he had some of his own ideas and he has been working with other cities on how they maintain their parks and he thought the youth in the City needed up to date parks. Councilmember Strommen stated that if they are going to go forward with this and the Mayor has other ideas, they should possibly discuss this. Mayor Gamec discussed his idea with the City Council and Park Commission. Commissioner Ostrum stated he cannot see any difference between the current fund and the extra fund for maintenance, why not let the parks use the current fund the way they want. Finance Officer Lund stated the current fund is restrictive and it cannot be used for maintenance. Park and Recreation Commission/June 10, 2004 Page 3 of 8