Recreation & Park Budget Hearings 2002
Hosted by The Neighborhood Parks Council for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department
Districts 1, 4, 5 and 7 Park Planning Committee Meeting
February 4, 2002
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68 people in attendance
I. Welcome and Introductions - Elizabeth Goldstein, RPD and Isabel Wade, NPC
Isabel Wade: Tonight we will provide neighborhood services division breakdowns, a complete list of proposals, and district demographics which have been compiled by the Neighborhood Parks Council. The department is very interested in public feedback and input, so feel free to ask questions and provide your opinions. I hope that you've picked up copies of the budgetary information provided. This is the first time this information has been put together into one document and we feel that it is very valuable.
We have representatives from four districts here tonight and from the Parks and Recreation Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC). We will introduce them at the end of the presentations, so you know who your representatives are and how to contact them. These are your official liaisons to the Board of Supervisors.
RPD is required to turn in a document to the commission this week. Some of you have been wondering how it is possible that the information gathered at these public meetings will be digested and put into meaningful information for the budget approval session on Thursday. What will be approved on Thursday are the concepts like those presented to you this evening, not hard numbers.
Before we get started, I'd also like to thank Supervisor Leland Yee for attending and invite him up to greet us.
Leland Yee: Thank you, Isabel. I just want to communicate how appreciative I am of the efforts of Isabel and RPD to form these community hearings. Because of the City's recent financial difficulties, it is a very critical time to hear your input. We are short about $175 million and the state is about $12 billion short. This translates to the Departments having less money to run their operations. That means that some of the projects that you and I want in our Parks and Recreation may not happen. So, how to enhance the budget we already have? This is the beginning of that effort.
Tonight, I also want to introduce two individuals that are on my staff. One is Jim Firth, who advises me on Rec. and Parks issues. The other is Renee Pittin, who advises me on the Board of Supervisors' Budget Committee. They are both important to my decision making process. Please contact them if you would like to contribute to what happens in these issues. Thank again.
Isabel: I also wanted to acknowledge Fiona Ma who has been very critical to organizing district park planning meetings.
Introductions of PROSAC Members:
Isabel Wade, District 5
Mary Beth Wallace, District 8
Mary Harris, District 11
Mike Casaza, District 7
Greg Roth, District 7
Mary Hamilton, District 4
Matt Tuchow, District 1
Thanks to PROSAC members, RPD, NPC and Mary King-Gorwky for providing details on the budget. This will be a challenging year for our communities, since RPD's budget is slated to be cut this year.
Elizabeth Goldstein, General Manager of RPD
Thanks for coming and participating. We appreciated the time and effort you take to get your voice heard.
There are lots of RPD staff members in attendance tonight. They are a great resource.
Introduction of RPD's staff.
One good thing has occurred this year. The public has been asking for years for a district-by-district neighborhood services budget. Mary King Gorwky has compiled one, which we hope makes the whole budget timeline and process clear. Lists of community proposals have been put together, and we want to feel free to add your own.
II. Budget Overview - Mary King-Gorwky, RPD
Where does the R&P Budget come from?
RPD's budget for Fiscal Year 2001-02 is $142.4 million. These revenues are received from the following:
- Programs and Services - $20.3 million
- DPT - garages that are located on or around RPD land - $9.1 million
- Open Space Fund - property taxes - $21.1 million
- Bonds and Gifts, including the 2001 Neighborhood Parks bonds - $47.3 million
- Yacht Harbor - $1.7 million
- General Fund Support, which includes taxes on hotel and Pac Bell revenues, as well as any other revenues not earmarked for other projects - $42.9 million
- COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) Raises - $75 million
How is the budget allocated?
- Operating costs: $84.6 million
- Capital costs: $57.8 million
- Operating costs include staffing, contractual services, and neighborhood services such as after school programs and maintaining natural areas.
- Capital costs are long-term costs such as deferred maintenance.
- The General Fund (GF) is RPD's primary source of income.
- Neighborhood Services: costs $77 million and earns $10 million
- General Fund: costs nothing and earns $42 million
- Zoo: costs $21 million and earns $7 million
- 3Com Park: costs $4 million and earns $7 million
Revenue by Fiscal Year:
- 00-01: $85 million
- 01-02: $100 million
- 02-03: $65 million (anticipated)
- There were no Zoo bonds issued this year, which accounted for $17 million in a previous year.
- 00-01: $125 million
- 01-02: $131 million
- 02-03: $110 million (anticipated)
- 00-01: $40 million
- 01-02: $40.5 to $41 million
- 02-03: $40.5 to $41 million
- 00-01: 1,161.20
- 01-02: 1,177.06
- 02-03: 1,177.06 *
FTE numbers may be fractional because of time spent at more than one worksite. We gained about 16 FTE's last year and hope to maintain this number next year.
Where do emergency funds come from?
- A certain amount of money funnels through the Controller's Office and is stored in the City's General Fund. It is not budgeted annually. The City is self-insured and has a litigation account.
- General Fund revenues and expenditures: priorities will be set so revenues can increase and expenditures will decrease.
- COLA adjustment: up approximately 2.5%
- GF Staff COLA: up $2.1 million
- Operating costs: Expected 1.7%, or $2.681 million savings. Potentially 10% of GF support.
- Parking garage revenue: down $900 thousand
- Revenue from tourist destinations, including admissions and concessions: down $400 thousand
- Revised permit and fee structure revenues are expected to increase.
- Open Space: up $1.6 million
- Gift Funds: $850 thousand
- OS Staff COLA: up $536 thousand
How do we maintain services when revenues decrease?
- We need to investigate new revenue streams. Your input is welcomed.
III. Budget Process Timeline
- Public Budget Hearings are scheduled for January 30th, February 4th and February 6th, 2002.
- February 7th - The draft budget, along with public comments, will go to the RP Commission.
- February 20th - The Mayor will receive the proposed budget.
- April 1st - The preliminary budget heads to the Board.
- April/May - BOS budget meetings
- May - Assess needs for and prioritize additional reductions based on the State budget.
- June 1st - Budget will be submitted to the board.
IV. Explanation of RPD's District Facilities Overview Document
Provided document contains information on each district's size, budget allocations, facilities, operating budget breakdowns, total staff by class and title, capital project status reports, and demographic data.
V. Capital Budget Process Timeline - Gary Hoy, RPD
- January 18th - CAIC received the proposed budget
- February 17th - Proposed budget will be sent to the RPD Commission
- March - CAIC of the GF capital budget
- April - CAIC review of Capital projects
- Neighborhood Parks Bond - $10.52 million; down from last year's $24.2 million
- Zoo Bond - $0; down from last year's $13.5 million
- GGP Bond: $0; down from last year's $2 million
- Union Square Park: Unknown; was $2.4 million in FY 01-02
- Conservatory of Flowers: $0; down from last year's $2 million
- Other project costs are similar to FY 01-02.
- Total FY 01-02: $57.46 million
- Total FY 02-03: $23.54 million
The Capital Plan adopted in 2000 is still on track, though parts have been delayed.
On March 5th, the State will put forward a new $2.6 billion dollar fund. Proposition 40 could bring $45 million to San Francisco.
VI. 2002 Facilities Staffing Summary by District - Mary King-Gorwky
This is the first time we've broken all of this information down into its district components. We have worked hard at standardizing information this year. All employees now have identification badges. We have standardized names for facilities. This document shows the number of FTE's and budgetary totals by facility as well as by district. NPC contributed the district demographics.
VI. Questions and Comments from the Audience
COMMUNITY REQUESTS:
EG: If you want to make comments after tonight or after you read over all of the documents we have distributed, please contact us. Until the budget is formally adopted, we are open to making changes.
- Don't cut kids' and seniors' programs. They are important to our community. Natural areas and reforestation projects should be put on the back burner until better years, if necessary.
- Programs for children and schools are overcrowded. Fostering communication between schools and RPD could help.
- I would like to compliment RPD on this ambitious document and these
meetings. Advocacy is important because the budget process is not over
until it's passed. Also, some of the natural areas programs are very
exciting.
EG: Talk to your area Supervisors if you want to keep them alive. - RPD has done a great job of improving customer service.
- Stern Grove: The commitment that was made last year not to increase the area, that festivals in Stern Grove occupy, still stands.
- The West Sunset Rec. Center: We have only two FTE's for the approximately 1500 kids that use the facilities. This is not a good ratio. We need more staff members.
- Natural Areas Program: There are only 10 or 11 employees for Open Spaces in San Francisco. I assume this is a huge amount of acreage per person. There are some very interesting things happening with Natural Areas in San Francisco. That's what makes this city so livable. Please don't make cuts to Natural Resources or Forestry.
- Teen Programs: The RPD and NPC have put together some great programs for older teens. Attendance is high, but we need more staffers so that we can keep Rec. centers open at night.
- Sava Pool: We swim at Salva Pool. Lately there has been no cashier present, just a sign welcoming you. This is not a good way to generate revenue. This is the most popular pool in the city. We need cashiers and locker attendants.
- Strybing Arboretum: Lots of people
use Golden Gate Park and the Strybing Arboretum. Our concern is with
hiring. Strybing has gardening, nursery specialist and secretarial positions
open. Cutting by attrition is not a good idea for these facilities.
Though there are 600 volunteers with the Arboretum, they are not trained
enough to take care of this valuable world-class plant museum. We want
kids from throughout the city to experience the park, but without proper
maintenance, this is difficult.
Saving by attrition is not a good idea. The people left behind have too many responsibilities thrust upon them when this occurs. We have so few gardeners, that we can't hire foresters to care for the park's tree canopy. We want to continue to fundraise and meet children who enjoy our facility. We cannot afford to neglect the Arboretum.
Strybing is considered one of the finest Arboreta in the country and possibly amongst the best in the world. We have seven gardeners doing the job of keeping it that way. We have four gardening positions that need to be filled, not kept open to save a bit of money. Our climate allows us to grow plants from 3 major climate zones. There are very few other Arboreta in the world that are capable of that.
As one of 600 Strybing volunteers, I feel we need to continue serving the public by taking care of this wonderful resource.
- Rossi Park: Rossi Park has lots of recreational resources Πtennis courts, soccer fields, regulation baseball and softball fields, rugby fields, a children's playground. Unfortunately, there are also some issues that need to be addressed there. The bathrooms at Rossi have problems, like fighting and fires. There are problems with dog owners. We need a Park Director at Rossi, so that these issues can be confronted.
- There are many underutilized programs. Some programs have fees that are way too low. Ten dollars per month for latchkey programs is a preposterous amount of subsidization.
- Some people, like those just off of welfare, depend on the low cost of latchkey programs. Without these programs, their children would be without adult supervision for hours after school. This is not an acceptable alternative. A sliding scale fee system could be used for those that can afford more.
- RPD could put earn revenue by putting together some popular yet cost effective classes like cooking. We should also concentrate on engaging communities in rebuilding parks and playgrounds.
- RPD has a huge volunteer corps, but it should be looking to expand use the program more effectively.
Is all this data current?
- Some of the District 4 information, which was gathered from pre-2000
RPD information, is no longer up to date. Fortunately, this data is
not being used to RPD budget allocation, but compiled as a courtesy
to the public. Districts were designated by population size. Though
districts may be similar in population, they can be completely different
in density, economics, ethnicity's, and number of recreational facilities.
The Capital Plans we have are based on plans from a few years ago. Some communities have requested alterations. RPD is setting up forums to hear these requests. Some parks and projects are more flexible than others.
- We are here tonight to see what your priorities are. We are trying to keep our staff, by moving their funding sources outside of the General Fund. We're also looking to for ideas to increase revenues in order to offset costs. But, if we get a 10% cut in funding, it will hit the department. In order to do this the right way, we need your advocacy and your suggestions to prioritize so that we can make smart cuts.
- The presentation to the Committee will be more in depth, but the information is the same. You are always welcome to participate in the monthly public forums. The schedule is available online.
- If that happens, we will try to save money by staffing attrition. What this means, is we will try not to lay people off. If staff leaves us, we will leave their positions open longer. This is not always good for operations, but it is better for people. It can be very difficult to manage, but we want to keep our workforce.
- The design work is being done in-house, but much of the construction is being contracted out.
- RPD feels that programs for teens are very important. We just put together a handbook because we are interested in getting this right. Dan McKenna and Lynne Ma are present in the audience tonight taking notes on your comments. They are great contacts and would you to stay in touch.
- Lots of illegal activities were occurring there. There is not enough staff to keep it in safe working order. Right now, the bathrooms are open during mornings and afternoons- six days a week. We are looking for solutions to keep them open and safe without the costs of employing a full time attendant.
- We recognize that people cross-district lines, but feel that district analysis can be a valuable tool. Before district divisions, some Supervisors didn't know what parks were in their districts. The plus is that now, they have to pay attention to their recreational areas. Accountability is important. Please participate in the NPC and Supervisorial district committee meetings.
VII. Thanks and Closing Comments - Isabel Wade and Elizabeth Goldstein
Isabel Wade: Prop 40 will be on the March 5th ballot. It could provide a great amount of financial support for the city and state. Vote for Prop 40. Check out their website at yes on prop40.com
The Board of Supervisors has just put a Neighborhood Services and Recreation slot on their agenda. At every hearing, the public can speak about these issues. These meetings happen Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m. and are chaired by Gavin Newsom. Contact him to get your item on the agenda.
Thanks for participating and to the RPD for preparing the budget analysis.
Elizabeth Goldstein: Thanks for coming out and sharing your views and thoughts. Email, call us, or show up at the RPD and Board of Supervisors meetings. Get your voice heard.
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