Chronicle Parker
November 23, 2012 A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourparkernews.com
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 11, Issue 4
Town banks on sales-tax growth Increase in revenues gives boost to maintenance projects By Chris Michlewicz cmichlewicz@ourcoloradonews.com The Town of Parker will spend 2013 catching up on delayed maintenance projects and paying off debt. An increase in sales-tax revenue, which is expected to account for 68 percent of the town’s general fund income next year, has freed officials from the constraints that came with the economic slide that began in 2008, and will enable them to order muchneeded maintenance on infrastructure and equipment. More than $24 million in salestax revenue is expected in 2013, compared with $21.7 million in 2011. The Town of Parker plans to spend $55.3 million next year and take in $54 million. Finance director Mike Farina said annual
expenditures sometimes outpace revenues, but there is a strategic plan to ensure there is an eventual balance. It will take four to five years for revenue totals to surpass spending, he said. Farina explained the year-to-year fluctuations in the size of certain spending categories. The town had a beginning fund balance of $44.8 million at the start of 2012 and is beginning next year with $37.8 million; the total includes all funds, from general to parks and recreation to capital improvement funds. By the end of 2013, roughly $36.5 million will be left in the coffers. Part of the reason is because town leaders are using fund balances to tackle projects and pay off debt. The capital projects fund, for example, will drop from $8.5 million this year to just $4.6 million next year. About $5.4 million from the fund was spent in 2012 on the widening of Hess Road from Motsenbocker Road to South Great Plain Way. Town council, which approved the final
2013 budget last month, will spend $3.8 million to repay debt on the Parker Arts, Culture and Events Center and the new Parker police station, which cost a combined $42 million when the facilities were built simultaneously in 2009-2010. The debt repayment cost is nearly $1 million more than is being spent on parks, forestry and open space in 2013. The PACE Center is expected to generate $1.2 million in 2013, but the town will spend just under $2 million on the performing arts venue. However, revenues were budgeted conservatively and projected expenditures were listed higher to give management more of a cushion as it tries to gain familiarity with costs for PACE, which opened in fall 2011, Farina said. The town expects to collect $1.38 million in real property tax revenue, $3.4 million in intergovernmental reimbursements and $844,000 in license and permit fees. For the detailed budget, go to www.parkeronline.org.
cmichlewicz@ourcoloradonews.com Dozens of vehicles streamed into the Parker Task Force parking lot just days ahead of Thanksgiving. Sometimes it was entire families; other times one person stopped by. But they shared one thing in common: each came with donations to help the Parker Task Force food bank feed roughly 200 local families for Thanksgiving. Teens from a Providence Presbyterian Church youth group helped unload turkeys and bags and boxes of stuffing, potatoes, corn and every side dish one can imagine into grocery carts Nov. 18. Church groups and school representatives dropped off hundreds of items collected during organized food drives; one brought in 30 turkeys. Two coolers sat side by side in the task force lobby. One was being filled with whipped cream and the other contained a growing pile of butter packages. In a small back room, more than 100 turkeys were piled high, with more coming in. The youngest volunteer, 6-year-
• ProPosed exPenditures: $55.2 million • Police Patrol costs: $4.4 million, including $3.1 million for salaries
• Mayor and town council salaries/ exPenses: $127,000 • concePt design work for rec center exPansion: $70,000 • east-west regional trail section: $800,000 • dog Park construction: $250,000 • PerMitting, Plan review software rePlaceMent: $475,000 • new Public works facility: $300,000 • econoMic incentives: $1.8 million
Castle Rock utilities director will take reins By Chris Michlewicz
cmichlewicz@ourcoloradonews.com
Task force busy ahead of holiday By Chris Michlewicz
• Projected revenues: $53.9 million
Water district has new chief
Parker Task Force volunteer Liz Coker helps Kiera Casey, 6, pick out food to fill Thanksgiving packages that were being prepared Nov. 18 for pickup. The task force’s food bank will feed roughly 200 families this year. Photos by Chris Michlewicz
Volunteers help distribute goods to families in need
HIGHLIGHTS FROM PARKER’S 2013 BUDGET
old Kiera Casey, helped by placing handmade “Happy Thanksgiving” cards into boxes and retrieving canned vegetables and other goods to complete packages specially prepared to include enough food for each recipient. The boxes were filled based on the number of people in each family. It was Kiera’s second year participating with her dad, Tim, who says volunteering during Thanksgiving will become a family tradition. His wife, Leann, joined this year and helped sort through the madness of a room that has become a makeshift storage and prep area. Tim Casey first began helping out after losing his job in 2011, and he brought Kiera in during her summer break to assist. He says it provides a good lesson for his daughter, a helper who seems to have limitless amounts of energy. Task force veteran Karen MacFarland, a Parker resident of 16 years who volunteers with her husband, Randy, usually works in the shopping section, guiding those in need through the stocked shelves. In the days before Thanksgiving, her services were needed to distribute the goods evenly among the boxes that were being prepped for pick-up. The room appeared chaotic, but the volunteers carefully kept track of what needed to go where by using checklists.
The MacFarlands have spent eight years volunteering with the task force, and Diane Roth, spokeswoman for the nonprofit organization, says their services have been “invaluable.” The nonprofit task force, housed in a building on the east side of Parker Town Hall, relies on the volunteers, particularly during the busiest seasons. “We could not get along without them during Thanksgiving,” she said.
Parker Task Force volunteer Randy MacFarland sorts through goods that were donated Nov. 18. The food bank collected more than 100 turkeys and expected to feed more than 200 families for Thanksgiving.
The Parker Water and Sanitation District announced a wellknown name in the local water business as its new district manager. Ron Redd, the longtime utilities director for Castle Rock, was named during a meeting Nov. 15 as the replaceRedd ment for Frank Jaeger, who has served as district manager for more than 30 years. Redd was present for some of the Parker water district’s most recent notable accomplishments, including the opening of Rueter-Hess Reservoir and Dam. He was among the main players in Castle Rock’s agreement to purchase $40 million worth of water storage space in Rueter-Hess, making the town the PWSD’s largest partner on the expansion of the reservoir. Redd was among 50 candidates considered during a fourmonth search, including Jaeger’s assistant manager, Jim Nikkel. PWSD board member Bill Wasserman, a professional recruiter, spearheaded the search for a new manager and said Redd is “bright, innovative,” has a good technical mind and “comes up with creative solutions.” “He seemed to be a good fit,” Wasserman said. “Everybody likes him and he’s a good team builder.” Redd said his first priority will be catching up to speed on day-to-day operations and understanding how the PWSD can fit into regional partnerships. He has been active in searching for new water resources and, when asked about residents’ concerns about not having water to fill Rueter-Hess, sought to ease fears among the public.
“What’s important for customers to know is we’re working toward solving that problem,” Redd said, citing recent negotiations to purchase treated water and wastewater from Denver and Aurora through the WISE agreement. He also pointed to the possibility, albeit in the distant future, of a long-term source of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming. Jaeger helped establish a coalition of interested water providers in the mid-2000s to determine whether an agreement can be made, and Redd has been among the active members. The project would require cooperation between dozens of water entities to build a massive pipeline along the Front Range that would end either at Rueter-Hess or in Pueblo. Jaeger decided to resign from his position when three new board members were elected in May and made it clear his contract would not be renewed. During their campaigns, the board members were critical of Jaeger’s handling of the district’s finances, but they decided to keep Jaeger on as district manager during a six-month transitional phase. Jaeger, along with other members of a search committee, reviewed and interviewed potential successors. Wasserman pointed out that certain perks that have come with the district manager’s position in the past will no longer be in place, such as free gas. Jaeger drives a GMC Denali that’s owned by the district, an example the new board members used to highlight what they called excessive spending. Redd, who starts his job in early January, will get a $500-a-month auto allowance, along with his $150,500 annual salary. Wasserman said Redd is the ideal manager to lead the district into the future.
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