Joint boards direct staff on FY27 budget: 57/43 planning split, pool reserve and Fillbox Park funding

Town manager Tyler Sinclair presented the joint FY27 budget to the combined Jackson town council and Teton County commission on June 1 and asked both bodies for direction on unresolved items, including joint planning funding, parks capital projects and the river management fund.

Sinclair said the parks & recreation fund balance stood at roughly $8,000,000, with a 15% reserve requirement (about $1.5M) and FY27 capital needs near $1.1M, leaving approximately $5.4M. After backing out estimated river-management net revenue (staff estimated about $1.2M–$1.4M pending audit), the fund balance available to distribute was roughly $4.0M–$4.2M.

On the joint planning split, county administrator Jody Pond explained the proposed 54/46 adjustment reflected the senior long-range planner’s oversight of an associate planner. Commissioners and councilors debated multiple options; Commissioner Gardner proposed splitting the difference at 57/43 to break an impasse. Several members supported that compromise and staff captured it as direction to return budgets with a 57/43 split for FY27.

On parks staffing, the county supported a full-time public-engagement position in parks & recreation that the town declined to fund this year. Parks Director Tyler Florence said the position could largely pay for itself through modest membership gains and a recently approved fee schedule projected to add about $240,000 in revenue; town members asked for measurable performance metrics before agreeing to joint funding.

The boards also discussed the river-management program, which staff said should be treated like a quasi-enterprise fund (Fund 19) and have its net revenue backed out before the general parks & rec split. Staff and the parks director described river-management revenues as coming from permit fees and trip recertifications and said final figures would be determined in the year-end audit.

Commissioners and councilors spent substantial time on pool maintenance. Tyler Florence summarized an Aquatics Commissioning report that estimated about $3,000,000 in near- to mid-term fixes to keep pools operational for 5–10 years. A proposal to earmark $2,000,000 from the parks & rec reserve for pool maintenance (and to use an already-budgeted ~$400,000 for an immediate playground replacement at Fillbox Park) found significant support; staff said not all $3,000,000 would be spent in the coming fiscal year and that projects could be phased and prioritized. Florence committed to return with a pool-only staff report in August with prioritized costs.

Town manager Sinclair closed the budget discussion by saying staff would reflect the boards’ direction in the draft FY27 budgets: adopt a 57/43 joint-planning split for now, add Fillbox Park improvements to the FY27 parks & rec capital list (the parties referenced a Fillbox playground replacement estimated at about $400,000 during the discussion), and earmark $2,000,000 of the parks & rec reserve for future pool maintenance and repairs. Final allocation amounts and the fund-balance split will be set after the year-end audit and in subsequent staff reports.

The town and county will each adopt their budgets separately; this meeting provided joint direction to staff rather than final adoption.

Next steps: Staff will return with a prioritized pool repair report in August, refined revenue projections after the new fee schedule and the year-end audit, and a revised budget reflecting the 57/43 planning split and the earmarks the boards discussed.