Funding for County Parks gathers steam
by Lennie Roberts

After more than a decade of hard work by citizens working to find a permanent funding source for San Mateo County Parks, new leadership is emerging to steer the effort - and save the parks from cuts in maintenance, ranger staffing and park hours. Supervisors Jerry Hill and Mike Nevin are spearheading the effort to place a measure on the ballot that will provide a dedicated source of funds for our parks.

New cuts averted
When the County adopted their FY 03-04 budget last June, they deferred several items until September. One of these items was the UC Extension program, which includes such programs as 4H, Nutrition Education, Marine Science and Landscape Horticulture/Urban Forestry. So that they could reconsider the County's ancient funding agreement with the UC Extension Service (which was written in the 1950's), the Supervisors chose to fund this budget item for just the first three months, until it was expected that negotiations on a new agreement would be completed.

But on the eve of the September Budget Revision hearings, Parks supporters were astonished to discover that more than $90,000 that was recommended as the new allocation for the UC Extension portion of the budget was slated to be taken from the already decimated County Parks budget!

Fortunately, Supervisor Rich Gordon averted a new crisis by proposing that the "add back" for the UC Extension be taken from the County's reserve funds. The rest of the Board concurred with this proposal, so Parks and Recreation has taken a cut of "only" 32% over the last two years.

Funding cuts forcing difficult decisions
With the State budget crisis threatening to fall heavily on local governments again next year, the same Hobson's choices will be facing the County next June. The Board has found it difficult to choose parks over other essential human services, so the need for finding additional funding is becoming more urgent. And the parks cannot sustain the current level of funding without serious consequences for visitors and park resources.

Promising developments for future funding
The challenge is for San Mateo County to find a source of funding that can meet the needs for County Parks without competing with the reauthorization of Measure A, the half-cent sales tax measure that funds regional transportation improvement projects.

A promising model is under way in Contra Costa County, where a broad-based group of citizens has crafted a funding proposal for voters to consider. Contra Costa's Advisory Committee on Open Space Funding, composed of a broad based group representing the County Board of Supervisors, cities within the county, East Bay Regional Parks, Land Trusts, business, labor, ranching and agriculture, is recommending a Benefit Assessment District, which would levy an assessment on each property throughout the County in proportion to the "benefit" to that property, as determined by an Engineer's Report. This kind of funding has the advantage of only needing a 50% plus one vote. CGF believes a similar committee structure and funding approach would be essential to gaining the support of the various stakeholders in San Mateo County.

Stay tuned!
The next steps for this effort include an in-depth meeting with the consultants who have put together the rationale for Benefit Assessment Districts for parks and other needed community facilities and services throughout the state. We are encouraged that finally there is some forward movement on this important effort, and look forward to supporting a broad-based effort to secure dedicated funds that will provide our parks the stability they -- and we -- need and deserve.