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Pataskala parks director reports $100,000 shortfall across park functions; concession staffing and pricing changes planned
Summary
Parks staff reported year-to-date revenues mostly up but an overall roughly $100,000 gap between expenses and revenues across parks functions, with concession losses tied to two poor-performing events; staff plans to reduce weekday concession staffing and increase marketing for next pool season.
Pataskala parks staff told the City Council that parks and pool operations showed revenue increases in many categories but that combined expenses exceeded revenues by roughly $100,000 for four parks-related functions this year.
Chris, the parks staff presenter, said the concession stand recorded about $835 in inventory losses across the season — about 9.6% of food costs — and that two specific events (a morning swim meet and a low-turnout July 4th) accounted for nearly $407 of the loss. "We lost quite a few hot dogs," Chris said, citing those two events as primary contributors to inventory spoilage losses.
Staff highlighted that staffing is the largest expense: concession staffing costs for the season totaled $23,295, roughly two-thirds of concession-related expenses. To reduce costs next season, staff said they will limit weekday concession staffing to a single employee with spot checks, maintain two people on weekends and special events, and not reuse the softball-stand staffing approach after it proved unsuccessful this season. Chris also reported that outsourcing concession staffing would have been more expensive: a quote from a private operator was about $37,000, roughly $13,000 more than in-house costs.
On pool operations, staff said recent one-time health-department-required work (hot water in bathrooms, door replacements) contributed to higher pool expenses and that third-party staffing for pool parties now appears as an expense in the city’s accounts. Chris clarified that swim lessons are handled entirely by outside pool companies (they pay the expense and retain the revenue), while swim-team and membership revenue do appear in city accounting. To boost next year's membership, staff plans an earlier marketing push (around March) and more social media outreach.
Council members asked routine clarifying questions about account coding and fund numbers; staff said the current report separates concession (206653), pool, and recreation accounts more accurately than previous years and that they did not include salary/benefit transfers from the general fund in the figures presented. Chris summarized: after two years of adjustments, operations are improving but additional steps are needed to close the remaining gap.
