On Thursday, the city council is expected to approve a resolution from Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool who asks the city manager to explore new parks funding strategies; consider a regional approach to financing, acquisition and maintenance of parks; and provide an annual report on the City Parks Dedication Fund.

The draft resolution lists potential funding strategies for Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) staff to consider, including parks and public improvement districts, public-private partnerships, expansion of Community PARK Partnership Program and new park user fees. The resolution directs City Manager TC Broadnax to convene a team involving PARD, the City Attorney’s Office and other departments to explore these strategies to supplement the department’s existing budget from the city’s general fund.

The resolution also recommends using park financing consultants, as well as comparing financing strategies to other park management systems in Texas. If approved, the city manager would be required to gather public comment at at least two Parks and Recreation Board meetings and provide an annual report listing the PARD’s land assets and maintenance costs, as well as provide an update on the status of the Parks Dedication Fund. . The City Manager will also work with Travis County and other regional partners to consider a strategy for acquiring and maintaining regional parks.

Robin Instead of ATX rewilding (formerly Rewild Zilker) said the group plans to support the resolution, with the exception of strategies involving expanded partnerships with nonprofits. These PARD-nonprofit relationships have long been a source of discord with some parks advocacy groups. To that end, last month the parks department released a note announcing an audit of PARD’s nonprofit relationships. The audit could include reviewing “prices, deliverables, timelines and performance measures.”

Rather said she believes that nonprofit partnerships should not be included in the resolution until the community has more data from the audit, but that Rewild ATX is eager to learn about other strategies. “There’s a lot to support, except for this part,” she told the Austin Monitor. “There must be other revenue models that are truly better for PARD. »

Supporters of these partnerships believe that non-profit organizations are less constrained in their spending and reinvest their funds in maintaining parks and trails, which would take longer to finance with the city.

Regardless, parks advocates throughout the community seem to agree that Austin’s parks system is in serious need more funding and maintenance. The resolution notes that the city has acquired more than 1,500 new acres of parks over the past decade, exceeding funding for park management and maintenance. The Council approved additional funding for park maintenance positions during the recent budget cycle, but there is a general consensus that the overall level of care of Austin’s parks system still lags behind.

“When we first saw (the resolution), we applauded it,” Rather told the Monitor. “The city recognizes that PARD is critically under-resourced and is systematically examining different business models to address this. … We’re excited about that.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Council Member Alison Alter proposed several amendments to the resolution via the municipal council electronic bulletin board. She highlighted several objectives of PARD Long term plannoting that Austin scored 53.5 out of 100 on the Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore index – a system for comparing park management systems in the United States.

With Alter’s amendments, the Council would reaffirm a previous goal of providing access to parks and outdoor spaces to all Austinites within a quarter-mile radius in the urban core and a half-mile radius outside. outside the urban core. Alter also added lines directing the city manager to consider reallocating or borrowing resources or personnel from other departments, review fees PARD pays to other city departments and expand comparisons with other park systems to include other states.

Notably, in the section on city manager reporting, the amendments call for a report on existing and ongoing public-private and PARKnership agreements, as well as an annual report on the value generated by each relationship. The amended language also lists certain specific measurements for maintenance and personnel to be included in the city manager’s reports.

If the resolution is approved, Broadnax will provide a progress report to Council by March 31 and a final report with recommendations on funding strategies by May 31, 2025.

Pool did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Photo made available via a Creative Commons license.

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