$5 monthly fee scheduled to sunset after current two-year budget period

By Damian Mann for Ashland.news

A looming fiscal cliff was top of mind at a joint meeting of the Ashland City Council and Ashland Parks & Recreation Commission Tuesday night.

Councilors pressed the Parks Department to come up with plans to cut costs before a temporary parks fee sunsets in less than two years.

Parks received the two-year reprieve in the 2025-2027 budget with a $5-a-month parks fee that pumps $1.4 million into parks budget over the next two years to avoid drastic cuts in services.

Councilor Bob Kaplan wondered what steps the parks department is taking to shrink expenses in anticipation of the sunsetting of the parks fee.

“I’m a little worried about it all,” he said. “You guys need to be laser focused.”

Parks Director Rocky Houston said his department is looking at many options to cut expenses while attempting to maintain services, pointing out that it had previously made about $500,00 in reductions of operations in the current two-year budget.

“We’re not going to solve all the $1.4 million budget ledge by making small initiatives, but together they all add up,” Houston said.

He said that it will require a collaborative effort by both the council and Parks Commission to solve the budget issue.

“All 13 of you are part of the solution,” he said, referring to members of the council and Parks Commission.

Houston laid out an ongoing Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Senior Service Plan (PROS) and community surveys that will help guide decision making and potential cuts in services. The PROS plan is scheduled for adoption next year.

Councilor Dylan Bloom said he thought the PROS plan would be completed this year.

“Why the delay?,” he asked.

Houston said that originally the plan was going to done by a consultant, but ultimately it was done in-house, which saves costs. Also he said he’s having surgery that will also delay finishing the plan.

While Parks wrestles with its upcoming shortfall, the city as a whole is confronting its own fiscal problems, as revenues dip and the ability to tap into an ending fund balance has been exhausted.

“We won’t be able to continue this going forward,” said Bryn Morrison, city finance director.

During a report on city finances at the joint session, Morrison said revenues in the current budget are down 3.3%. 

For example, food and beverage tax revenue is 6.2% lower in the last quarter, though other revenue sources are up, such as the transient lodging tax, which has increased by 10.1%.

Planning and building departments have seen 26% lower revenues, though Morrison said these departments can experience swings from quarter to quarter.

Morrison said the city has struggled to recoup $6,796,390 in delinquent utility accounts that are a legacy from the pandemic, as well as from prior city staffing problems.

The city has been able to collect more than half that amount from former residents who have moved out of town, but Morrison said $2,713,359 of past due accounts will be sent to a collections agency.

Prior to 2019, the city had an average of about $50,000 in past due accounts, she said.

Morrison said the city is working with the Oregon Department of Revenue to potentially garnish money from tax returns of residents who haven’t paid their utility bills.

With staffing levels back up to previous levels, Morrison said, “We hope we will see greater collections than we’ve seen in recent years.”

Ashland City Manager Sabrina Cotta said it’s not just parks that has to address financial problems.

“We’ve had an adjustment process for all of our departments,” she said. “Revenue is stark.”

Cotta said the city is currently going through a planning process for the next biennial budget to deal with its own looming shortfall.

Meanwhile Parks has taken other steps to address current and future budget issues.

“We know there’s going to be less revenue,” said Mike Gardiner, parks commissioner.

Houston said his department has 36 employees with 11 managers, an amount criticized by Councilor Gina DuQuenne.

Houston told DuQuenne, “We have a lot of managers,” but pointed out that many of the managers also work in the field and often come in on days off for support. 

He said the goal is to get the number down to seven managers.

Houston said his department has seen a big increase in park and open space acreage over the past two decades while managing it with fewer employees.

Based on 2025 dollars, he said the parks department has had a 42% reduction in its current budget compared to 2007-2009.

Some of the steps being taken to reduce costs include 25% less irrigation, picking up trash at parks less frequently, using fewer temporary employees and looking toward community partners to help run events.

He said the ice rink will be open two fewer weeks this coming season, shutting down in the middle of February, when attendance typically tapers off.

Overall attendance numbers at the rink are relatively flat year-over-year, Houston said.

The pool has seen a slight uptick in attendance, which could be attributed to fewer smoke days this summer, Houston said. 

The golf course has posted better attendance as well, he said.

In a community survey conducted by Parks & Recreation, residents were asked how they would spend $100 on park projects and operations.

Maintenance and repair of existing parks received the most — 25% of the $100. Development of new parks amenities received the next highest amount at 17%, followed by increasing recreation programs at 14%.

Development of a new recreation center that includes a pool and senior center got 10%, and increasing senior programs also got 10%.

New trails, new park lands, and development of new educational amenities and programs each received less than 10%.

A separate question asked what residents thought was the highest priority for parks.

Limited use of pesticides was a far higher priority than reduced programming or maintenance of parks, according to the survey.

Sports fields were more important than pickleball.

Youth programs were far more important than senior recreation programs or adult recreation programs.

The pool was overwhelmingly more important than the dog park, according to the survey.

However, when a different question was posed, the answers sometimes conflicted.

Asked what is a higher priority, no reduction in recreation programs or no use of pesticides, respondents overwhelming picked no reduction in programs.

Trails were overwhelming more important than the golf course.

In other council business, the council and Parks Commission discussed a potential ballot measure before 2030 to deal with the sunsetting of the 5% tax on prepared food and beverages, which raises about $3 million a year. The tax, which applies mostly to restaurants, delicatessens, coffee shops and caterers, currently helps fund parks projects, pays down debt on the wastewater treatment plant and finances street projects.

During a public comment period, Linda Adams urged the council and parks commission to make parks a priority investment, saying they are “not mere luxuries.”

“These are fundamental pillars that make Ashland the gem of Oregon,” she said. “Investing in parks is investing in the air we breathe.”

Reach writer Damian Mann at [email protected].