Parks staff outlines cost-recovery tiers to guide 2027 budget priorities

Parks department staff presented a draft cost-recovery or community investment policy intended to help the board and city council decide how limited public resources should be allocated across park services. Staff explained the policy’s tiered approach: public goods and open space require no recovery; community events and passive human-service offerings target about 5% recovery; skill-building activities should aim to recover 100%; special events and some rentals target 110% recovery.

Staff described the policy as an advisory tool to inform the 2027 budget rather than a prescriptive change and said the department will provide program-level financial figures for the board to review. Commissioners asked whether percentage targets translate to actual dollar amounts and requested spreadsheets showing how individual programs performed in prior years; staff agreed to prepare more detailed financial tables for follow-up meetings.