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Parks, Recreation and Libraries presents $47M operating budget, plus capital projects including England Park and Center Park
Summary
Department leaders described a $47 million operating budget and capital pipeline including $32 million in near-term projects, discussed homelessness response and human-services funding increases, and outlined priorities for parks maintenance, open-space stewardship and library services.
Parks, Recreation and Libraries (PRL) leadership briefed the Westminster City Council on Feb. 3 about the department's 2025 operating budget and capital priorities, describing a large portfolio of facilities, seasonal staff and upcoming projects.
Eric Oselberger, acting PRL director, opened the presentation by describing PRL as "the soul of this city" and noted the department's scale: a roughly $47 million operating budget, 219 FTE (about 1,000 people when hourly and seasonal staff are counted), 2,337 acres of parks and 3,818 acres of open space. Oselberger said PRL's revenue recovery rate over the past five years averaged about 35%, placing it above national averages for similar jurisdictions.
Capital and operations highlights: staff listed close to $32 million in capital projects that are already underway or soon to begin, including phase 1 of England Park (about $6 million), Center Park in downtown (presented as an $11 million project in process) and multiple irrigation and trails investments. Staff said about $5.2 million of public-land-dedication cash is available for uplands park work and that design for the first public-park investment in Uplands is anticipated in the coming years.
Human-services and homelessness response: the department added two navigator FTE and an additional $1 million in 2025 for human-services work related to people experiencing homelessness. PRL staff reported the human-services team permanently housed 64 people last year, provided temporary housing for 18 individuals and supported more than 5,000 hotel-room nights; PRL issued 122 encampment contacts on public property and 65 civilian trespass orders, with police assistance on a smaller subset.
Parks operations and asset management: PRL outlined a shift toward a district operating model to improve maintenance efficiency across six geographic districts and highlighted extensive asset-management work, including GIS-based mapping of valves, irrigation and other in-ground systems. Staff said the typical maintenance cost cited in the presentation is roughly $4,000 per park acre and about $1,000 per open-space acre (figures presented during the briefing).
Libraries and recreation: library services managers described two facilities (College Hill and Irving Street), a library-to-go van and a forthcoming library master plan. Recreation staff said the city recorded roughly 1.1 million guest visits across facilities last year and reported $6.2 million in recreation revenues. Golf operations were reported as a positive contributor, with about $6.7 million in revenue last year and rounds approaching 100,000.
Council questions and next steps: councilors asked about grant eligibility under the state planning laws (staff said most grant penalties or prioritization would affect state funding and that the conservation trust fund and other traditional grants remain important), the public-land-dedication cash balance for uplands, long-term operations funding for Center Park, and staffing for open-space stewardship. Staff committed to providing more detailed timelines and to coordinating with partners on Stanley Lake and other projects.
What the city will do next: PRL staff said they will proceed with planned capital projects and the Uplands area-management planning work; they will return with project timelines, design work and partnership proposals as each project moves toward construction.
