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Show Summit County could help finance Park City's recreation programs by Rick Brough The Summit County Commission will study a plan to distribute money for recreation to each of the county's three areas. That was the result of a meeting on Wednesday, April 17, when the commission met with representatives representa-tives from the Park City, North Summit and South Summit areas. Park City representatives have requested funding from the county because their recreation programs serve county residents, while the city alone pays for the programs. However, funding from Coalville will not be -the ultimate answer, according to Park City Councilman Jim Doilney. Within the next year, he said, a proposal for a recreation district should be placed before voters in Snyderville and Park City. The commission meeting was held to find a way county money could be uniformly channeled to meet recreation recrea-tion needs around the. county. The commission said it would study what funds were available next year for recreation, and would consider distributing them to the three areas on a per capita (equal shares) basis. Stan Strebel, county General Services Ser-vices director, said, "That makes the most sense, since it goes more or less where the money's needed." Doilney suggested the county could try the per capita technique for a year, and see if any problems develop with it. Park City representatives asked for county money, with Recreation Director Steve Haugen saying 30 percent of his program participants are from outside Park City. For instance, he said, half the youth soccer players in his programs are from outside city limits. Koy Page, an Oakley city councilman, suggested county residents resi-dents could be assessed a user's fee. But City Councilman Bill Coleman said county residents feel like "second-class citizens" when asked to pay a fee. And in any event, the fees are not enough to pay for the cost of the programs, he said. Mayor Jack Green said Parkites are asssessed about $48 each to pay for the recreation programs. (They are also charged $40 apiece, he said, for the city library, but county citizens also want to use it. Librarian Pat Montgomery said she has gotten irate reactions from citizens who couldn't get library service because they weren't city residents.) The county is willing to consider recreation funding, said Commissioner Commis-sioner Stan Leavitt, but this year there isn't that much money to spread around. The county has appropriated $10,000 for recreation. By contrast, said Doilney, the city budget is about $160,000. County money would be helpful, he said, and for next year's budget citizens should lobby the county to provide more than $10,000. "But it's unlikely they will get to the funding level of the city," he said. At the conclusion of the April 17 meeting, Commissioner Stan Leavitt said the county would send a follow-up letter to participants after it studies the per capita proposal. |
