Tigard approves fee to pay for parks maintenance

Jack Park2.JPG

Eight-acre Jack Park in north central Tigard is among the city's 548 acres of parks and open space. (City of Tigard photo)

The Tigard City Council has adopted a parks and recreation fee to partially pay for park maintenance and operations that will be included in residential and business utility bills.

Starting April 1, a typical residential customer who receives a utility statement from the city will begin seeing a monthly charge of $3.75, according to a city news release. Typical business customers will see a monthly charge of approximately $7, based on the number of parking spaces.

The fees, adopted at the council's meeting Tuesday, are expected to generate a little more than $1 million annually.

The fee will allow the city to take care of current park maintenance and possibly deferred park maintenance. Capital investments, including developing newly acquired park lands purchased since 2010, will not be addressed with the new charge.

The fee has been discussed since last July. A public hearing in January addressed long-term city funding and unmet needs in city parks.

"To address the fact that our general fund revenues grow at 3.5 percent per year while expenses grow at 4.5 percent per year, the budget committee approved the creation of a parks utility fund that would take parks funding out of the general fund and be funded with a utility fee," city manager Marty Wine says in the release. "This makes general fund dollars--previously paying for parks--available to invest in additional day-to-day city services."

A fee discount will be offered to qualifying low-income households earning 50 percent or below the state median income.

The city owns 548 acres of parks and open space.

At its meeting Tuesday, the council discussed asking Tigard voters to approve a property tax levy which could raise parks money to replace the new fee.

The budget committee will also look at how recreation activities may be funded through the newly adopted fee. The committee's talks begin in April and will end in July, when the council will consider a budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

-- Allan Brettman

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