Parks department presents FY2027 budget, highlights $10.4M for tree preservation and staffing shifts

The Parks & Recreation Department presented its proposed fiscal 2027 budget and a workplan built around three pillars: operations and maintenance, trees, and recreation/community engagement. Director Omer García told the City Council the system manages 278 parks, more than 106 miles of trails, 30 recreation centers and 25 pools, and said the department is accredited nationally.

García and staff said the proposed budget teams resources across a general fund contribution and several restricted funds; the presentation listed a line for tree preservation and mitigation (presented as $10.4 million for FY27) and said capital projects will continue, with less than $20 million in planned park projects identified for the year. “El presupuesto propuesto son 120.4 1000000,” García said in the presentation, signaling the scale of the department
s ask. Staff highlighted absorption of three vacant positions into existing teams and the addition of maintenance staff for new facilities as trade-offs the department is proposing.

Council members pressed staff about how position reductions and the push to generate cost recovery at reservations and fields would affect access for lower-income users. Staff said some high-demand fields remain free to the community and that many reservation categories are priced low; they also pointed to a recent baseline finding that roughly 81% of planted trees survived a prior planting year, a metric the department will use to guide the planting program this cycle. Follow-up materials were requested on staffing detail, the capital list and the projected operating costs tied to newly completed parks.