New budget eases cuts at senior centers

The finance committee of the Spokane Park Board on Friday approved a tentative 2005 budget that calls for a mix of cuts and new charges to plug a $1 million hole in parks and recreation spending.

The committee’s plan partly backs down from proposed cuts in funding to senior centers and community centers. Larger cuts proposed earlier this month drew an outcry from senior center members and others.

“Personally, I feel this is fair,” said Pauli Chapman, president of the Southside Senior Activity and Community Center, of the newest budget proposal. “I feel we have to take a cut to help the city.”

The Southside center would see its funding reduced from $124,000 to $117,000 next year. A previous proposal would have reduced funding to $97,000. Other centers would undergo a 15 percent cut under the plan approved Friday. However, the East Central Community Center would see a larger cut because of elimination earlier this year of day-care and youth recreation programs.

The budget is also expected to call for new fees for summer youth swimming, which has been free.

The parks budget now goes before the full Park Board, which meets on Nov. 11 at 1:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. The meeting will be televised live on Cable Channel 5. The parks budget is approved separately by the Park Board under terms of the City Charter.

Meanwhile, library officials on Friday released a schedule of six public meetings to take comment on a series of options for cutting $1 million from the $7.5 million library budget.

The options would reduce the number of days each week that the city’s six libraries are open. The first public meeting will be Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone.

Also on Friday, Mayor Jim West said he will submit to the City Council on Tuesday a detailed budget with cuts in other general fund services, including police, fire, streets and internal departments. The budget proposal will specify the number of jobs to be funded next year. Employees whose jobs are not funded are expected to be laid off as part of a $10 million to $12 million reduction in the city’s $116 million general fund.

The mayor previously has said that as many as 120 city workers could lose their jobs. They include 24 police officers, as many as 50 firefighters, 10 positions in purchasing and printing, and other workers.

The proposed parks department budget calls for cutting 75 seasonal temporary employees, including youth recreation staffers, lifeguards and maintenance workers. Their seasonal hours are equivalent to 16 full-time positions.

Parks cuts include closure of the Shadle outdoor pool, outdoor wading pools, a summer youth program and reduced offerings at Northeast Youth Center. Maintenance of non-park traffic islands would be eliminated; free labor for setting up tables, benches, toilets and such for community events would end, and two office positions would be kept vacant.

Parks Director Mike Stone said a vacant manager position in recreation services will not be filled while he considers a reorganization of department management next year. He has asked for funding the position for half a year, he said.

Under the City Charter, the parks department receives a fixed allocation of 8 percent of the previous year’s expenditures in the general fund. That means that citywide budget cuts for 2005 will result in another round of parks cuts in 2007, which Stone estimated at $1 million out of a $14 million budget.

“This is kind of the tip of the iceberg,” Stone said of the 2005 cuts.