Village’s Recreation budget expected to rise

From page 1 increase from $675,000 to $725,000.

The budget for Recreation and Parks’ “Other Expenses” which include the costs of gas and oil, special program services, uniforms and telephone costs would increase by 13% and reach $248,000 with the proposed budget for 2023-24. This amount is nearly $80,000 higher than the actual expense for “other expenses” in the 2021-2022 actual budget.

Revenues for Recreation and Parks include recreation program fees, rentals of the St. Paul’s Fieldhouse and Cluett Hall, the fields at St. Paul’s, other fields’ rentals, platform tennis and senior center rental.

Overall the revenues for the department are expected to drop, with an 11% decrease coming in from revenue sources. Drops of $65,000 from the rental of fields at St. Paul’s – down from $115,000 in the adopted budget to a proposed $50,000 – would be a whopping 57% decrease. The rentals of other fields could see an even more dramatic decrease, of 63% – down to $25,000 as proposed, from $67,000 in the 2022-23 adopted budget.

Recreation’s current lineup of capital projects has $3.031 million allocated, with $650,000 of the funds spent yearto-date, another $634,000 encumbered for the projects and $1.747 million for the remaining balance on 14 existing Rec. capital projects. Most prominent is the HVAC replacement at the Garden City Senior Center, which has another $319,000 as a balance, following $118,000 in expenses for it year-to-date.

A capital project for safety surface installations at the village’s neighborhood parks has seen $285,000 encumbered of the project’s amount in the current budget of $354,000, with a remaining balance of $69,000.

The five-year capital budget outline includes $158,000 for the safety surfaces at playgrounds in the coming budget year, plus $194,00 in both 2024-2025 and again the year after.

A $376,000 budgeted capital proj- ect for Recreation Equipment was also spread out, with the year-to-date amount of $170,000 in expenditures plus $170,000 already encumbered, and a balance of $32,900 remaining.

The Recreation and Parks Department is budgeting $75,000 in capital project costs for tree management in each of the next five years. For athletic court renovations, the department has $25,000 proposed for the coming fiscal year and $193,000 for 2024-2025.

Capital investments for the St. Paul’s Fieldhouse are currently budgeted for 2025-2026, with $220,000 to replace the Fieldhouse windows and $275,000 for its restrooms’ renovation.