MORGANTOWN — The Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners approved a draft budget of $13,915,950 for Morgantown’s park system for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year.
For perspective, the municipal budget recently approved by Westover City Council was $12.4 million.
Further, BOPARC’s budget for the current fiscal year sits at just under $6.8 million.
And that’s about where the upcoming budget would be were it not for a single revenue line item — “obligated funds still in reserve” — at $7,350,000
Executive Director Melissa Wiles explained that line is an estimate based on current fund balances in several categories — sales tax, levy funds and money market account. It also includes things like grant dollars awarded for specific projects that have yet to be spent.
The largest anticipated revenue source in the upcoming fiscal year is BOPARC’s sales tax allocation, projected at $2,390,000. So far, BOPARC has received just over $3.4 million in sales tax revenue in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
The city of Morgantown will allocate $1.7 million from its general fund to parks and BOPARC conservatively anticipates bringing in another $940,000 in facility rentals, admission fees, registration/activity fees and food/merchandise sales.
Wiles said the city’s allocation, which is up $100,000 over last year, goes primarily toward paying employees.
In addition to a cost-of-living adjustment and a pay bump for seasonal employees, Wiles said BOPARC has been able to make some long-needed additions.
“We are happy to report four additional staff members — two entry-level manager positions and two mid-level manager positions,” she told the board during its most-recent regular meeting. “We’re very excited about augmenting our staff. That’s something that has needed done and we’ve just honestly have not been able to afford to do so.”
On the expense side, the budget includes $3.5 million in sales tax improvements and $1 million in sales tax bond payments tied to the forthcoming construction of a new Marilla Pool complex.
The budget also reflects a $150,000 operational contingency and a $3,871,376 reserve contingency.
“When I came on the board five years ago, one of the things I was always freaking out about was we had no money set aside. It’s like, we know the pool is going to break or we know the chiller is going to break, where are we going to pay for that? And the answer was like, ‘We have no idea because we have no money.’” BOPARC President and Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble said, noting those line items have been built up over the last few budgets, “I’m very, very happy we were able to do that.”
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