Starkville aldermen are expected to amend city code and absorb the autonomous Starkville Parks Commission, save for the group’s legislative mandate to approve 2 percent food and beverage tax expenditures, Tuesday at the conclusion of public hearings on the matter.
City leaders are quick to redefine the move as a restructuring that could provide immediate cost savings for often financially maligned organization.
If the board approves the takeover, management of the park system — operations and finances — will become a direct function of city leaders. The independent SPC, which has seen defections from its own members in recent months, will become an advisory board that will temporarily wield power for approving capital improvements funded by the city’s food and beverage tax.
The park board is expected to keep its 2 percent-approving status until July 1, when the city’s current food and beverage tax bill is scheduled to roll off the books. As written, the current tax bill specifically tasks SPC with expending those funds, meaning the group cannot become a fully advisory board until the law expires.
State Rep. Tyrone Ellis, D-Starkville, confirmed he will file a new bill next week. The legislation is expected to maintain the same financial distributions as lawmakers set with their 2004 amendment. Currently, tax revenues are divided between Parks (40 percent), Mississippi State University student groups (20 percent), Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority (15 percent) and Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau (15 percent). The remainder, 10 percent, returns to the city.
A new resolution for the tax levy is needed from the city, Ellis said, before he files the expected bill.
Aldermen filed a similar motion last year, but lawmakers declined to act on the request since the 2 percent tax would not expire until 2015.
Aldermen see immediate savings
Starkville’s expected takeover means the city can immediately slash redundant services — legal and auditing, specifically — and save a combined $20,000-$30,000 annually on Parks’ bottom line, Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard said.
Those savings are needed as Parks’ expenses are expected to again outpace its income by about $80,000, CPA Randy Scrivner told aldermen Jan. 20.
“I definitely think we’re going to utilize economies of scale once we bring Parks back under (city) control,” Maynard said. “We need to be able to balance the budget, and we’re not that far off right now.”
Aldermen are not expected to address employment levels at Tuesday’s meeting, but due diligence studies that should come in the future will place all aspects of the department under the microscope.
Parks’ landscaping services, for example, could benefit from adjusting maintenance schedules — how often the different tracts of land are mowed — while the city could back retrofitting efforts replacing old lighting systems at well-used areas to LED systems, which are more cost effective from an electricity standpoint.
Those studies and changes are long-term projects. Once a takeover is approved, Parks’ financial issues become city budgetary matters, rather than an appropriation process. Such a change will give aldermen specific line-item control of expenses not associated with the 2 percent capital improvements fund.
“There’s potential there for sure,” said Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker of possible cost savings through landscaping adjustments.
Walker is an associate professor of landscape architecture at Mississippi State University.
“Everything — operations and landscaping — has to be studied for us to do this the right way,” he added.
Board could adjust advisory group’s membership
While SPC is expected to transform into its fully advisory capacity in July, both Maynard and Walker hinted at expanding the board’s membership to truly reflect a cross section of Starkville.
Aldermen could add ex-officio members from separate groups — Starkville Soccer Association and a senior citizen organization, for example — to give more input to the people who use the park system regularly.
“The people who represent Parks need to be the ones who use it,” Walker said. “Moving forward, I look at this commission just like a task force. It should be able to identify what the issues are, what’s needed to correct them and establish guidelines to make sure our parks are always up to par.”
Financial issues lingered for 2 years
A city takeover of the parks commission was first forecast by former Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey during 2013’s municipal election campaigns. Audits released that year showed Parks grossly behind on its electric bill payments and outlined that SPC Chairman Dan Moreland issued an unauthorized cashier’s check to cover capital improvements’ costs.
Parks’ financial situation became a lightning rod at the board table as Corey and other Democrats pushed for a takeover shortly before that year’s mayoral election.
Wiseman would go on to beat Moreland, but the two and their respective supporters would spar over finances into the new term.
Board turnover that election cycle replaced four aldermen, including Corey and the takeover-backing Democrats, with enough Moreland-Parks sympathizers to generate an almost-$100,000 funding increase for the department in the last fiscal year.
Despite the increase, Parks continued to suffer financially.
Aldermen were forced to approve a $60,000 bailout after Parks fell short of its yearly budget in September and could not meet payroll, retirement and bill payments.
Financial woes continued into the new fiscal year as Parks ran over budget in October.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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