Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Parks And Recreation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Recreation & Parks seeks $64 million in FY26; staffing and forest-conservation funding among council concerns
Summary
Director Nicholas Moonahan presented a roughly $64 million FY26 request for Recreation & Parks, highlighting new facilities (AAPI Cultural Center, North Laurel pool) and PAYGO investments. Council members probed increases in personnel costs, vacant positions, forest conservation fund declines and teen and childcare programming.
Nicholas Moonahan, director of Howard County Recreation & Parks, told the council the department's FY26 operating request totaled about $64 million. Of that, roughly $34 million is proposed from the general fund and $28.7 million from the Recreation & Parks fund; smaller allocations come from the forest-conservation fund and other program grants. Moonahan described new operational efforts that account for the majority of the department's general-fund increase: operation of the AAPI Cultural Center at the Ellicott City Historic Courthouse (opening Nov. 1) and operations for the North Laurel Community Center pool (planned Jan. 1 opening). Those new efforts together represent roughly $537,982 of the general fund increase and will be staffed with a mix of full-time positions, contingent staff and contractual services.
The department reported maintaining more than 10,000 park acres, operating eight regional parks, 10 community parks, 12 neighborhood parks and 18 historic sites. Moonahan highlighted program volume: more than 72,000 registrants across classes and camps in FY24 and significant economic impact for tournaments and events—stated as roughly $60 million annually.
Council members pressed on personnel costs (general-fund personnel costs up about 6.3–7.1%, driven by step increases, salary market pressures and new positions for two new facilities), vacancy management, and the effect of frozen positions. Moonahan confirmed about seven frozen positions across the department this year, including maintenance and recreation-services roles and two natural-resources positions; he said some vacancies are deliberately maintained in the recreation fund for part-time childcare roles and that the reported vacancy count fluctuates.
The council also asked about the Forest Conservation Fund and programmatic shifts: Moonahan and Bureau Chief Brian Moody explained that regulatory changes and increased on-site conservation (rather than fee-in-lieu payments) reduced fee-in-lieu revenue, and the fund currently supports three natural-resources positions and tree-planting/hazard-tree programs. They said declining fee-in-lieu revenue will require a strategy—possibly moving positions to the general fund—to sustain planting and natural-resources work.
Other exchanges included questions about teen programming (Teen Vibes and Teen Kickbacks), an expanded low-cost summer camp (“Camp Outrageous,” $25 per child) with two locations and approximately 50 spots per site, and childcare staffing and wait lists: recreation staff said recruitment remains the top priority for before/after care and that aides start at roughly $17/hr, teachers at $18/hr and directors at $20/hr, with training supports offered.
Ending: Council members asked for more detail on how personnel growth and contingency/ overtime mixes were calculated, and requested program-level data for tree-planting locations and camp specifics. Moonahan and staff agreed to provide follow-ups on fund balances, tree-planting site breakdowns and childcare staffing strategies.
