Wausau parks director outlines 2026 budget trade-offs, recommends fee increases and pool rotation

Jamie, Parks, Recreation and Forestry Director, told the finance committee on Sept. 30 that the parks department’s 2026 budget is shaped largely by county decisions on wages and indirect-cost allocations and by the department’s new asset-management software costs. The department recommended a 7.5% across-the-board fee increase and a set of targeted reductions intended to preserve core services while meeting a required $149,000 cut.

The parks director said the county’s compensation “true up” and a reallocation of county HR and finance indirect costs increased the city-side wage obligation. Parks managers spread full-time wage charges among several funds (city, county, forestry and the Sports Complex) based on each employee’s percentage allocation. The department also cited a recurring cost for Cartograph, an asset-management system shared between city and county, which is split 50/50.

To offset higher wages, the department proposed a 7.5% fee schedule increase; the fees were reviewed by the joint Park Commission and are included in the draft budget. Proposed expenditure reductions in the parks budget that were presented to the committee as included in the recommended 2026 budget are: rotating which pools are open so only two of three pools operate each day (estimated $30,000 reduction), leaving an unfunded 50% administration position (roughly $44,000), removing eight park dumpsters ($3,900), and trimming the small projects fund by $29,000. The parks director said those reductions were designed to limit effects on staff and core services, but some deferred maintenance risk remains.

A number of potential additional cuts were discussed but not included as adopted reductions, including not installing life piers at River Life, deferring River Life and 400 Block fountain operations (estimated savings of about $17,000 and $20,000, respectively), and proposing a future urban-forest fee. Alder Watson and Alder Tierney both pressed to explore alternatives to preserve the third pool and keep it open; Watson specifically asked whether the proposed $30,000 pool saving had been adopted and was told the budget as recommended included the pool rotation (that measure is in the budget as a reduction). Committee members also asked whether Memorial Park reconstruction would restrict pool access; the parks director said coordination with user groups would minimize disruptions and short closures would be rotated with other pools.

The director said the department had already looked line-by-line for savings — reducing some utilities and supply estimates after overbudgeting last year — and emphasized that most of the budget pressure was wage-driven and offset in part by the fee increases.