Daddy-daughter dance might be delayed, as PenMet ‘backloads’ events to meet pandemic
Anticipating that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to disrupt some operations well into 2021, the PenMet Park District will “backload” some events later in the year, the board was told during budget discussions this month.
Among them will be the popular Father-Daughter Dance, which usually takes place in February.
“We’re going to try to delay events as long as we can,” acting executive director, Hunter George, told the park board at a Dec. 1 meeting. One example, he said, is the Father-Daughter Dance: “We’re having a hard time seeing it can happen in February, so it might be done in June.”
The overall strategy will be to “save our powder,” George said. “We will do what we can, do what we are allowed to do.”
The discussion came during a meeting at which the five-member Board of Park Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the 2021 budget. The $7.8 million spending plan authorizes $4 million for General Fund operations — including parks maintenance, recreation services and administrative functions — and $3.8 million for construction projects.
“With so much uncertainty about the economy, it is important that we take a conservative approach to projected revenues and expenses,” said Maryellen “Missy” Hill, President of the Board of Park Commissioners, in a news release. “PenMet’s 2021 budget reflects normal spending, but some of those expenditures will not occur if events and programs are not conducted.”
Capital projects
Besides the ongoing Community Recreation Center project, expected to cost about $22 million to build, PenMet has several other capital projects coming up in 2021, including a planned $1 million renovation of Hale Pass Park and the historic Arletta Schoolhouse, which was built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration.
Maintenance projects include replacing 1,500 feet of fencing at Sehmel Homestead Park, tree replacement, and adding bark and gravel to areas that need it throughout the system. The Recreation team will continue to adapt its sports programs, special events and classes to meet community needs.
The goal for the budget was to “implement cost containment wherever possible,” George told the board.
In a preliminary budget report presented in November, George wrote that “The usual methods of projecting future income are difficult to apply due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing impacts to the local, state, and national economies. And legislative, regulatory, operational, and society decisions and events may occur that would cause current projections to be inaccurate.”
Sales tax a bright spot
While the pandemic has reduced revenues from some programs, notably team sports, a bright spot is sales tax revenue, which George said did not fall in 2020 as much as feared.
“Despite all the closures/restrictions and the huge impact on the economy, 2020 actuals are much higher than anyone expected (presumably because much spending shifted to online),” George wrote in the preliminary budget report. “PenMet is currently on a track to collect $419,000 in 2020 — the same amount as 2019.”
Still, the budget forecasts a 10 percent reduction in sales tax revenue for 2021, given the uncertainty ahead.
“We hope the introduction and distribution of vaccines and other strategies for managing the pandemic will enable PenMet Parks to expand its services during the year, but every department is also prepared to tighten spending if the pandemic causes another shutdown or other negative effects on the economy,” George wrote.
Copies of the PenMet Parks 2021 budget are available at the front desk of district offices, 5717 Wollochet Dr. NW.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 5:30 AM.