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Carbondale meeting removes $110,000 for pickleball bleachers and $30,000 for volleyball sand from budget in 4–3 vote
Summary
An unidentified Carbondale governing body voted 4–3 to remove $110,000 earmarked for pickleball bleachers and about $30,000 for volleyball sand from the proposed budget, after members debated rec fund priorities and fund-balance policy.
An unidentified governing body in Carbondale voted 4–3 to remove two recreation line items from the draft budget after a debate about priorities and which fund should pay for park amenities.
Speaker 4 moved to remove "the pickleball courts and the volleyball sand" from the budget and defer the projects, calling for the items to be kicked to 2027. The motion was seconded and carried on a roll-call vote. Speaker 6 read the roll call as follows: Hassug (yes); Cribs (yes); Laird (yes); Montemayor (yes); Robeson (no); Sparkhawk (no); Mayor (no). Staff confirmed the yes votes remove the two items from the budget.
The removed items included an amount of about $110,000 tied to pickleball bleachers and roughly $30,000 for volleyball sand. Speakers divided along lines of longer-term priorities. Speaker 1 said the board should consider setting aside fund balance for larger needs — including affordable housing and town-center work — rather than funding smaller recreation upgrades now. By contrast, Speaker 8 argued the town is not in immediate fiscal distress, noting a projected 93% fund balance at year-end and cautioning against repeatedly trimming small capital requests that community groups support: "we're not broke," Speaker 8 said.
Several speakers questioned whether the sand replacement and bleachers were urgent. Speaker 9 said the sand affects programming and safety and could limit community use, while Speaker 4 warned of rising expectations for amenity quality and urged restraint to avoid creating long-term maintenance expectations.
After the motion, Speaker 3 (staff) said the line item labelled "recreational facility streetscape" was a naming error in the financial system and could be corrected. Speaker 3 also said a $500,000 amount that appears in the 2026 budget was carried forward automatically from 2025 and that staff would confirm its intended purpose with Kevin and report back.
What happens next: Staff will correct the naming for the streetscape line item, confirm the purpose of the $500,000 carryforward and include any clarifying language on the final budget. The board removed the two recreation items for now; members said broader policy work on the role of the general fund versus the recreation sales-and-use tax in supporting parks will be part of upcoming discussions.
