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Park programs in jeopardy
Popular programs and entertainment venues in county parks could be on the chopping block if the county's budget forecast remains dire.Last week, the Fairfax County Park Authority Board deliberated agency-wide cuts. The Board of Supervisors told leaders from all county agencies to figure a way to cut 15 percent from their operating budgets by the time the board begins the 2010 budget process this fall.
Preliminary figures indicate as many as 41.5 full- and part-time park staffers may be fired.
Budgetary concerns have already accounted for wide-ranging cuts countywide, and for the past year, county parks have been working with smaller staffs and fewer resources while attempting to accomplish mounting piles of work.
"We really have sliced out all of the things that were nice to have but not necessary and, at this point, we really find ourselves struggling on what can be reduced that's immediate and sustainable," said Miriam Morrison, Park Authority Division Director for Administration.
At the meeting, the Park Authority Board OK'd a list of multimillion-dollar cuts that would be formally presented to them in a slide show for further deliberation at their Aug. 20 board meeting. The park authority will formally present its final recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 6.
Those cuts include the removal of portable toilet services at 80 parks, saving the county $40,000, but affecting an estimated 174,000 park users.
Another cut would close the carousel at Clemyjontri park in McLean, which receives more than 100,000 visitors a year.
Educational programs and operating expenses are almost certain to be cut, as are the printings of park fliers and brochures. The maintenance of park lawns and equipment will also be affected and one proposed cut would reduce staff support and cleanup for popular July 4 fireworks displays, affecting tens of thousands of visitors at Lake Fairfax Park and Lee District Park.
Another proposal would eliminate the park authority's oversight of community concerts, saving $52,000 but affecting nearly 90,000 people and "concerts risk the likelihood of possibly being discontinued," according to the list of proposed cuts.
"Jeopardizing these concerts is going to make several supervisors howl," said Harrison Glasgow (At-Large).
Many on the board agreed that cutting such vital and popular programs would entice supervisors to raise money to sustain them, while others cautioned that if presented with ultimatums in tough fiscal times, the board could call their bluff and shut those programs down.
But most affected could be staff, maintenance funds and operating funds for the county's three popular lakefront parks – Lake Accotink, Burke Lake Park and Lake Fairfax, saving the county more than half a million dollars.
If cut, staff at those parks would have to work on permanent skeleton crews. Year-round general management, programming and support staff would be cut and all services at those parks would be cut, including boat rentals, amusement rides and camping, affecting nearly 3 million people annually.
Lakefront parks are a "fairly inexpensive form of family entertainment for low-income families," said Winnie Shapiro (Braddock), who debated the proposal but ultimately said she would support it because "then again, this is a half a million dollars," she said.
Goerge Lovelace (At-large) said staff cuts were necessary, since on the list of line items, "if we don't have staff on one of these categories, [the Board of Supervisors is] going to send us back to the table."
And although the county will one day find its way out of its current financial predicament, "those things that were cut, unless you have a big enough political push, you're never going to get them back, and we're in this thing for the next five years, for sure," said Park Authority fiscal administrator Ajrawat Seema. "In the last decade, the only position we've gotten is something that had a political push and we've had no baseline increases in the budget since 1994."
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