Ashland Parks & Recreation reviews effects of budget cuts with or without proposed parks fee 

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

Ashland Parks & Recreation Commissioners struggled to reconcile pleas from staff and dire predictions from the department’s director in the face of 5 to 10% cuts during Wednesday’s APRC business meeting. 

“I left a really good paying job to come work for the North Mountain Park Nature Center because it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. … It was full of volunteers, it was buzzing with community, it was buzzing with life,” Jen Aguayo said during public comment. 

She sat down in the office of Ashland Parks & Recreation Director Rocky Houston Tuesday to be told she had only “a sliver of a chance” to avoid being one of a few lay-offs as part of budget cuts throughout the Parks department. 

She was told without a council vote on the $5 fee increase — as discussed during the March 31 study session and reported by Ashland.news — her position would disappear. Environmental education staff would be let go and the Nature Center could close, along with the community gardens on site. The news made her think of her 14-year-old son, her mortgage and the public. 

“I thought about all of the people that I serve. I can’t afford to live in this town, but I come every day to serve the people of Ashland. I don’t know how you choose your budget cuts or who gets to make those decisions, and I don’t think the people of Ashland know who makes those decisions or have a lot of say in where that money comes from,” she said. 

Houston — alongside City Manager Sabrina Cotta — explained that after commissioner’s had already approved a potential budget, updated financial forecasts from the city’s finance department indicated a need for further savings amounting to around 5% budget cuts across city departments. 

With the new parks fee, cuts would be at 5%, while without it, cuts could rise to 10%, according to meeting materials. 

With 10% cuts, the Senior Center would lose one full time employee and reduce hours to two days per week, the East Main Park project would be cancelled and the city would return funds to the state. APRD could close all parks restrooms, “moving to a port-a-potty model,” Houston said. 

The Garfield Park splash pad could close, some landscaping could see a reduction in irrigation and mowing in favor of prioritizing mandated fuel reduction across park land and trails. In addition to eliminating the environmental education programs, and the cuts and closures at the Nature Center, without Aguayo’s position there would be no Salmon Festival or Bird Day, he said. 

The Daniel Meyer Memorial Pool and Rotary Centennial Ice Rink would close with a loss of $350,000 in revenue, he said. The costs to APRD to subsidize these facilities combined with the need to cut the seasonal workforce would negate the revenue. 

“Don’t get me wrong, regardless of the outcome, this is going to be painful for the community, and for the department. … My predecessors and I have continued to look at every rock, every seat cushion to try to be efficient and effective, to find resources,” Houston said. 

Carolyn Reed — a five-year veteran volunteer at North Mountain Park — described her and her fellow volunteer’s reaction to the news of Aguayo’s likely lay-off. 

“I have to say — I think the reaction from all of us —when we were told this morning we were gobsmacked is probably the best word that I can think of,” she said. 

Reed said she saw pandemic pressured inactivity blossom again into a place where visitor’s investment is displayed with binoculars in hand and questions for volunteers about birds, bees, deer and other flora and fauna in the park. 

“We’re confused by the budget. We’re upset that we’re losing a very good leader who’s been there for eight years and we’re also wondering if the nature garden is going to be kept open … — it’s a valuable piece of property in this town,” she said. 

Rod Palmquist of Southern Oregon Union Representative for Teamsters Local 223 also offered public comment, stating two weeks prior “the front line staff of Ashland parks” made “a democratic decision to unionize with the Teamsters.” 

“We understand there’s a real budget challenge here. But when front-line employees are the first to be cut, and the community is given little explanation, that’s not sound governance. That’s false-choice budgeting. And it erodes trust,” he said. 

Commissioner’s took turns decrying the impact of the described cuts on seniors, children and the department’s staff. 

“We’re trying to bring young families into town. … Really, over the next year we’re going to cut a lot of those services,” Commissioner Mike Gardiner said. 

“Asking our kids to shoulder most of it, that doesn’t sit right with me,” Commissioner Justin Adams said. 

Commissioner Dan Wiener challenged administrative staff to “be creative” and referenced that at his work in the medical field, even during the pandemic staff were not cut in the face of budget constraints. 

Cotta said as an Ashland resident with a 5-year-old, “Besides my house and work I spent most of my time in the parks.” But despite personal knowledge of parks value, the enactment of additional fees for parks is more difficult than fee increases for public safety. 

Unlike neighboring municipalities, Ashland has never had a parks fee, she said. Between state caps on property taxes and rising costs to healthcare and personnel, the city will have to face a broad reevaluation of what services it wants and how it wants to fund them. 

Gardiner asked if other departments were having similar painful conversations with their staff. Cotta affirmed this was true. 

After asking whether a $10-a-month fee would prevent most of these cuts and getting yes, $9 or $10, for an answer, Commissioner Rick Landt made a motion to urge council to consider a $9 fee. Deputy City Attorney Carmel Zahran said council would make the decision and commissioner’s could only vote “symbolically.”

Commissioners voted unanimously to urge council to consider a $9 fee. 

In other APRD business Wednesday, commissioner’s heard a quarterly financial update, a presentation on a policy for policies within the department from Houston, and information that user fees within the APRD system are slated to be raised and potentially changed to allow for greater “nuance.” 

Commissioner’s will discuss potential raises to costs such as renting space at the Senior Center or using athletic fields at an upcoming study session and are scheduled for a vote at the May 10 business meeting, Houston said. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].

April 15: Corrected amount ($9, not $10) per month commissioners voted to recommend to the City Council