Batavia parks inflate the budget
Budgeting for major park improvements, including fixing Harold Hall Quarry Beach, will inflate the Batavia Park District’s proposed 2011-12 budget substantially over this year’s.
The park board got its first look at the plan Tuesday night. It will host a public hearing and take a vote on the budget at its May meeting.
Overall, it calls for $8.49 million in expenses, including capital development fund spending of $1.58 million. The 2010-11 budget was $7.01 million.
The new budget proposes spending about $480,000 more in the recreation fund and $925,000 more in the capital development fund than the current budget.
The capital development fund is where the district pulls money for buying land, developing new parks and undertaking major improvements. The district has hired engineers to design a solution to the problem of water loss at Quarry Beach. It expects that may cost $750,000 to $1 million and hopes to begin work on the project this fall. Other major projects proposed include installing a park for the Mirador and Tanner Trails subdivisions in North Aurora, starting the first phase of renovations at Memorial Park and building a small shelter off the Fox River Trail on South River Street.
The budget contains money for a contract the board approved Tuesday: hiring a marketing consultant, at a cost of $36,000, for “community engagement.”
Park board President Patrick Callahan said the board, which was thoroughly criticized last year during the debate over building a recreation center, has a simple motive: “We want (the public’s) raw opinions and beliefs about what you think this park district should do,” he said.
Commissioner John Tilmon, while eventually voting for the contract with Crest Communications, said he believed the money would be better spent on hiring a part-time employee to take on the task. The consultant is only contracted for six months, and Tilmon said he fears the effort will die when the consultant is gone. Executive director Mike Clark said the idea is to have Crest collect the information and come up with a way for staff to continue the process after the contract ends. He also said that he and the current in-house marketing staff would not have the time to do the project without putting off other work.
Commissioner Gary Foiles was concerned that the district may end up duplicating efforts, as the board is beginning to think about hiring a firm to update the district’s comprehensive plan. Clark said, however, that information gleaned from the engagement project could be given to any planners.
Crest Communications last year ran a project to figure out what residents wanted to do with Quarry Beach. It conducted meetings with residents where it reviewed the beach’s history, the problems with the beach and suggestions that included fixing it, leaving it as-is or closing the facility. The firm also ran the district’s information efforts regarding a proposal to borrow money to build a recreation center downtown. Voters rejected the recreation center in November.