At a Parks and Recreation Board meeting, Parks and Recreation staff presented the department’s draft 2026 operational budget and answered board questions about revenues, program costs, trees and staffing.

Board members were shown a packet that breaks each division into appropriation and expenditures columns for 2024 and 2025 and a separate column labeled the 2026 request. Staff said the packet is the department’s operational budget only and that salaries and benefits are handled separately by the city finance department and therefore are not included in the version before the board.

Dina, Parks and Recreation staff, said the 2026 request column reflects what the department anticipates requesting for the 2026 fiscal year and that revenue-generating services are listed beneath the expenditure totals. “We do use our cost recovery model in order to establish the expenditures as well as our revenue,” Dina said, describing how fee levels (for pools, golf, memberships) are set after seasonal review and market comparisons.

Board members pressed staff about several line items. On materials and supplies in recreation operations, staff said the increase is largely because the department expects additional needs tied to the Price Road Exploration Center programing and operations. On golf operations, staff explained the packet separates taxable concession sales (concession stand apparel, retail) from nontaxable revenue such as memberships and greens fees.

Staff confirmed pools are included in this document but under an acronym: HRP operations denotes the Gahanna swimming pool. The document that board members received electronically before the September meeting will include clearer labels, staff said.

On street trees, the packet shows a request for roughly $400,000 for 2026 while actual cash spent in 2024 was about $184,000; staff explained the larger request reflects funds encumbered on purchase orders and anticipated fall planting plus replacements for trees removed in 2026. “This does not account for any money that’s been encumbered or earmarked,” staff said, noting year-end totals will increase as encumbrances post.

Board members also asked how paving of park parking lots is reflected. Staff said small repairs may be listed in parks operations as contract services, while larger replacements are tracked in the capital improvement budget; the capital program is not included in the operational packet presented to the board.

Staff said they are reviewing the senior center structure ahead of a new facility opening and anticipate additional support staff will be needed as membership grows. The packet’s aquatics page shows memberships sold at 914, which staff said is nearly 200 more than in past years. Staff said a similar operational packet, still without wages, will be provided electronically before the September meeting and brought back for further review in September.

The board did not take formal action on the budget at the meeting; staff said the document is intended for board review and questions prior to the department’s submission to the mayor and City Council.