Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Pickerington ponders how to pay for park plans

June 12, 2006

By Rick Palsgrove

Southeast Editor

An initial report on enhancing the city of Pickerington?’s parks shows that proposed improvements could cost an estimated $7.3 million.

Edsall & Associates LLC presented the initial cost estimates to the city of Pickerington?’s Safety Committee on June 5.

The estimates left council members pondering how the city could pay for the proposed improvements.

Councilman Keith Smith said the initial $7.3 million figure ?“can and probably will change?” to a lower number when Edsall presents the final parks master plan to council sometime this summer.

?“We?’ve heard loud and clear from the residents (through a recent public survey) that they don?’t want an income tax increase to pay for this,?” said Smith.
Currently the city has a one percent income tax.

Smith said the most available funding source is from impact fees, which are fees paid by residential or commercial developers to offset the impact of growth and development on the city?’s infrastructure.

?“One of the purposes of impact fees is so we could do things like this for the city,?” said Smith.

Smith added that council will have to review the finalized parks master plan this summer and prioritize its funding.

?“The plan could be implemented over time. We can look to see where we have available funding and work from there,?” said Smith. ?“Pickerington is a nice city to live in and to the extent we can make the parks more accessible and usable it will be a benefit to the community. It?’s the right thing to do. It preserves green space and enhances the quality of life.?”

Councilman Brian Wisniewski commented, ?“I understand the need for good parks...but we need to deal with realistic numbers.?”
Wisniewski suggested that a more reasonable, workable estimate for improving the parks would be around $3 million.

Wisniewski added that over the next five to seven years the city will collect an estimated $2 million to $2.5 million in impact fees.

?“We need to think long term,?” said Wisniewski. ?“Maybe we need to break the plan into phases and work within parameters the city can meet within a reasonable timetable.?”
Park improvement proposals

Pickerington has seven municipal parks ranging in size from three to 50 acres.
Edsall?’s proposal and estimates did not include big ticket items like a swimming pool or recreation center. The costs did include such things as benches, signage, picnic tables, bike racks, waste cans, playgrounds, bike/walking paths, utility improvements, and landscaping in all seven parks.

Additionally, Willow Pond Park could get a fishing dock and shelter relocation; Shawnee Crossing Park could get a bridge; and Sycamore Creek Park could have a barn renovation, shelter, fishing deck, amphitheater, and covered bridge renovation.

The proposed estimated cost breakdown per park is as follows:

?•Colony Park (3.12 acres): $174,000;
?•Willow Pond Park (6.95 acres) $299,521;
?•Shawnee Crossing Park (7.03 acres) $589,855;
?•Victory Park (6 acres) $742,940;
?•Simsbury Park (37.31 acres) $1.5 million;
?•Sycamore Creek Park (50.48 acres) $2.9 million;
?•Preston Trails Park (35 acres) $1.08 million.

Council will consider the park improvements further later this summer when the finalized master parks plan is presented.

Lesson in estimates

Perhaps councilman Smith needs to learn a lesson in the city budget process. Keith, just because someone tells you that a project will cost an excess of 7 million dollars does not generally mean that you immediately sign a contract and whip out your check book. I agree that that parks in Pickerington need to be maintained so that they are as appealing as possible but lets be realistic shall we?

Perhaps a parks improvement plan could be under taken in phases in order spread out the cost rather than doing it all at once? It would be a mistake to jump into something of this scale all at once that would take up all or most of the funds generated by impact fees.

Income Tax, of course

Don't forget that Mr. Smith is the leading proponent for raising the income tax to 2 or 2 1/2 percent and eliminating the credit for those living here and working elsewhere. Maybe this is the deposit for his magic checkbook to write a big check for parks. Traffic lights be damned, we need more swingsets in these vacant fields called city parks. You GO Smitty!

Oh yeah, Smitty also wants to raise the water and sewer rates to the maximum recommended by the fee committee ASAP. Maybe through the creative financing talents of he and Gilleland they can divert some of these funds towards building that bridge at Shawnee Crossing! There's nowhere to park or nowhere to walk but let's build that bridge for $600,000. We could use some benches at Colony Park - just $174,000. Maybe we could do naming rights on them? What do you say Smitty? For say $50K you can have the Joyce Bushman bench at Colony Park.

Yes, perhaps councilman Smith needs a lesson. Perhaps he needs several lessons. Perhaps he needs to widen his circle of acquaintances beyond his civic association and quit relying on them as his sample group for this city and making bonehead decisions based on what he tells them.

Six months!

Don't forget that in his first six months in office, Keith Smith has suggested not only that we spend over $7,000,000 worth of impact fees on a parks project, but has also come out publicly in favor of raising income taxes.

Thanks Keith!

By Randy Flagg