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LOREM IPSUM DOLOR
CONSEQUAT VENIAM NOSTRUD
ASHLAND RECALL
Parks and Recreation Commissioners
Mike Gardiner
Jim Lewis
Rick Landt
RECALL
Budget Mismanagement
The #1 Reason for the Recall of Ashland Parks Commissioners
Ashland Parks & Recreation Commissioners (APRC) continue to mismanage their $9 million dollar annual budget, seriously threatening the sustainability of the city’s general fund.
Revenue for the Parks and Recreation portion of the city’s budget and its capital projects is derived from three sources: Ashland’s general fund, fees for services, and the restaurant tax. The data below is from the adopted 2017-2019 budget that can be found on the city website.
“Cost recovery” means simply that expenses for each of Parks and Recreations’ two divisions are to be offset by revenues. However, the Recreation Division revenues fall far short of covering its costs. (The Recreation Division includes recreation programs, the Daniel Meyer Pool, the Rotary Ice Rink, North Mountain Nature Park, and the Senior Center.) The Golf Division barely reaches 50% cost recovery, while their expenses continue to rise. Detail regarding these division cost overruns are nowhere to be found in the city’s published 2015-2017 budget. Nevertheless, the overruns mean that costs are not covered by APRC’s three revenue sources. To cover those overruns, funds must be taken from the city’s general fund after the APRC working capital carryover is depleted―which will occur very soon.
What is clear is that overruns are not being managed at all. They aren’t decreasing and until they, do the city’s general fund is at risk.
There is a projected increase over the decade of nearly 400% in the total APRC budget, and a growing shortfall in the department’s Working Capital Carryover to cover that increase so that, by the year 2023, Parks and Rec will be operating $5,932,801 in the red. Those dollars will have to come out of the city’s general fund, in other words, out of the pockets of Ashland residents. Such a cost recovery failure makes it abundantly clear that mismanagement is leading the city toward bankruptcy unless changes are made in APRC’s fiscal management. Ashland needs a slate of new APRC commissioners who will bring strong and responsible leadership to this issue.
Read Budget Committee Member Shaun Moran's Daily Tidings' Guest Opinion on overspending and potential fiscal crisis for Ashland here.
Another example of approving expansion of programs before public input and determining impact to budget:
SENIOR PROGRAM/CENTER
APRC latest actions 1/22/18:
Concerns about the direction APRC and the ad hoc senior advisory commission is going includes:
• Ad Hoc committee recommendations may sound positive; however, they are mostly conceptual. How APRC implements them down the road is what matters. APRC has already showed their hand in wanting to scale back (and outsource) social services (information/referral and outreach services) and expand recreation programs where revenue generation from younger seniors is more possible.
• APRC has passed the ad hoc committee’s initial recommendations without doing an adequate evaluation of the budget implications. If the budget is not increased, everything is certainly window dressing.
• The ad hoc recommended administration, record keeping and structure are geared toward a large city (over 100,000 population) rather than a city of Ashland’s size (21,000). APRC and the ad hoc committee have not considered the costs of building the bureaucracy, supporting computer program technologies and additional staffing it will require. It will direct staff to do paper/computer work instead of dedicating time to provide direct services to those most in need.
• APRC enhanced the senior program responsibilities, position, and manager’s role without review of APR’s overall structure in order to cut back personnel in other areas that used to have such responsibilities, e.g., recreation department.
• APRC adds highly paid staff to its organization which is already top heavy.
• The program and job descriptions are all set up to outsource the information/referral and outreach to regional agencies that have slim staffing. Local staff for such services are more efficient and effective.
• The community survey is not statistically sound, slanted toward desired results and under-represents social services needs.
• With the current legal actions against APRC - senior manager wrongful discharge and contract violations, age discrimination, and ethics violation - APRC should not rush (delay) re-organization actions until outcomes of such actions become clear.
Go to AshlandSOS.com to read more about it
90 year old Ashland Golf Course's survival threatened under APRC's poor management. Below is an analysis from the Citizens on the Budget Committee as presented in their March 1, 2018 town hall.
Cost recovery has decreased from 97% in 2005 to 52% in 2017.
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Citizens on Budget Committee holds town hall March 2, 2018
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"This is an effort to create a foundation of truth and is not considered a “partisan” effort. Everything I present is based on published information. I welcome comments and debate however, the numbers are as presented in various official documents."
Garrett Furuichi