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Public Works warns county parks and trails face near‑term funding cliff
Summary
Public Works Director Tom Madsen told the board park maintenance funding has shrunk and the department expects to exhaust parks trust balances within a year; staff proposed an ad hoc finance review to evaluate operations, relinquishments and use of deferred maintenance funds.
Public Works Director Tom Madsen told the Board of Supervisors that the county’s parks and trails program is facing a near‑term funding crisis and that existing trust funds and earmarked revenues will be largely exhausted by the end of the next fiscal year.
Madsen said several revenue sources that had supported parks — including a local TDA allocation historically used for park maintenance — have been redirected to transit. He said that, without a new financing strategy, the department will have to rely on the county’s deferred maintenance trust or consider transferring some parks to other operators.
Key points from the presentation: - Trust and revenue erosion: the department said it had been receiving about $65,000 per year from local transportation development allocations earmarked for parks; that funding has shifted, and the parks trust is expected to be depleted roughly within a year if current spending continues. - Staffing and service level impacts: Madsen said parks staffing was reduced for salary savings in FY24–25 and that low staffing levels are contributing to increased illegal dumping and deferred maintenance across county parks and facilities. - Candidate options: the department recommended forming a board ad hoc committee (staff suggested working with the CAO) to develop a finance and operations strategy for county parks and trails, including a review of whether to transfer or relinquish management of select sites (Moonstone Beach, Mad River Beach, Table Bluffs, Centerville Beach, Samoa Campground and boat ramp were cited as possible candidates for transfer). - Capital and grant work: despite the maintenance shortfall, Public Works enumerated an extensive slate of engineering, bridge and trail projects, and noted some completed successes from Measure Z spending and other grants. Madsen emphasized the department is trying to use one‑time funds for deferred maintenance where possible but said the scope now requires a longer‑term funding solution.
Madsen told the board the county needs a plan to sustain parks operations and suggested the board consider allowing deferred maintenance trust funding to be allocated to county parks facilities while staff explore transfers and additional grant opportunities.
Board response: Supervisors asked to keep parks and access needs visible within Measure O planning and discussed convening an ad hoc board/CAO committee to draft a long‑term funding and operations plan.
Ending: Madsen said he would work with the CAO to present options and possible timelines; no board action was taken at the time of the report.
