Audit: Most Milwaukee County parks improved since 2009 but asset tracking and documentation need work

The Milwaukee County Board Committee on Audit on July 7 recommended adoption of an audit finding that nearly all sampled county parks have improved since a 2009 pictorial audit but that Parks needs better asset management and inspection recordkeeping.

The audit, presented by Jennifer Follier, the Comptroller’s director of audits, compared photographs and asset records from February 2009 with images and data gathered by the audit team in 2024 and 2025. The audit team documented park improvements driven largely by capital investments, public‑private partnerships and philanthropic contributions, but it also identified gaps in inventories and in retention of inspection records for pools and playgrounds.

The audit team reported that Parks invested more than $50,000,000 in the sample parks between 2009 and 2024, with county capital funding representing about 71% of the revenues for those projects. Since 2021, Parks reported collecting more than $11,600,000 in beer‑garden revenue, a new revenue stream that did not exist in 2009. Examples the audit cited include a $1,100,000 county investment in the park renamed Lucille Berrien (formerly Lindbergh), multimillion‑dollar upgrades at Deneen Park (noted as more than $6,000,000), and renovations at Hoyt Park and Pool following a long‑term agreement with the Friends of Hoyt Park and Pool.

At the same time, the auditors found that Parks maintains assets in multiple systems — VFA (primarily buildings), the county GIS, CityWorks (work order/asset management) and a variety of spreadsheets — and that counts differ across systems. The audit cited, for example, that VFA has about 480 buildings listed while another count showed about 449; the GIS list for Parks includes more than 40,000 assets. The office said that mismatch requires Parks staff to consult multiple systems and other departments to compile capital submittals.

The audit also said Parks lacks formal, retained documentation of inspections for pools and playgrounds even though staff described pre‑season inspection practices. "They told us that they were happening and they explained their process, but they did not have any documentation retained from any of their inspections where they could show us," Follier said during the meeting.

Milwaukee County Parks’ executive leadership responded during the meeting that inspections and maintenance occur but that recordkeeping and cross‑departmental data integration need improvement. "We inspect a pool before work is done… Once the work is done, the improvement is made. We don't necessarily keep a paper trail of all of the documentation," said Guy Smith, executive director of Milwaukee County Parks. Jim Tarantino, deputy director for Parks, told the committee the department is under‑resourced, noting the parks system includes roughly 1,370,000 square feet of building space and about 440 buildings "which are maintained by 28 people right now." Tarantino said public‑private partnerships, philanthropy and federal relief dollars helped drive many improvements.

The audit office recommended eight actions including: reconciling asset lists across systems, developing written policies and procedures to produce and update asset lists, retaining inspection documentation for pools and playgrounds, and creating a tracking system for the county’s Friends groups so Parks can collect required annual reports and financial documentation.

The audit noted a commonly cited deferred‑maintenance figure of $500,000,000 for Parks that was developed in 2019 with projections through 2046; the auditors recommended the county relabel the figure as "deferred maintenance and future capital needs" and update it on a regular basis because the underlying data are spread across multiple systems.

Committee members asked Parks leaders whether the department agreed to the recommendations and how the board would see follow‑up. Follier said the audit division treats its reports as action items and asked the committee to approve the attached resolution; Parks’ leadership said they would work with the Comptroller’s office and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to implement process recommendations. The auditor and Parks said follow‑up reports will appear on the committee’s six‑month status schedule.

On a motion by Supervisor Capriollo that "item number 1 be recommended for adoption," the committee voted 6 ayes, 0 nos and the motion prevailed. The committee will receive follow‑up status reports on implementation of the recommendations on a six‑month cadence.

The audit and committee discussion emphasized that many improvements came from partnerships and capital investment but that better electronic recordkeeping, a reconciled asset inventory and formalized inspection retention would allow supervisors and staff to make more informed, timely decisions about maintenance and capital priorities.