The city may cut more than half of its recreation services to
save money in next year’s budget, but the mayor wants to take a
more drastic measure and eliminate all recreation programs.
The city may cut more than half of its recreation services to save money in next year’s budget, but the mayor wants to take a more drastic measure and eliminate all recreation programs.
“The truth is, we have to find places to cut,” Mayor Tony Bruscia said. “And frankly, I believe we have to cut recreation before we cut police officers.”
Even if Bruscia doesn’t get his way, many activities are on the chopping block, including popular ones such as summer coed softball.
Devoted participants, such as Hollister resident Joe Martinez, are angry and have begun organizing petition efforts to encourage saving some of the programs.
Martinez has played softball locally for the past 20 years. This summer, however, the effects of Hollister’s fiscal deficits will likely bleed into his and many others’ lives.
For Martinez, a member of the Cedar Valley coed team, it would end a long-cherished tradition of summer nights playing softball at Veterans Memorial Park. The coed softball program involves “several hundred participants,” Management Services Director Clay Lee said.
“A lot of husbands and wives play together; it’s their recreation,” Martinez said. “It’s important to a lot of people.”
For city leaders who must soon make the call – one, they say, with little room for compromise – that’s a cold reality. With massive citywide cuts of up to $4 million pending, recreation programs – as opposed to police and fire staffing – must be considered first, officials say.
Bruscia realizes his contention isn’t popular. Bruscia, a former Parks and Recreation commissioner, has also played in the men’s basketball program.
But he said he’s “taking the heat” for the rest of the Council by making such a bold recommendation.
Summer coed softball is a snapshot of the reduction. Overall, Lee has proposed cutting 60 percent of the Recreation Division’s offerings next fiscal year.
“These are not easy decisions,” said Lee, who has worked to build the programs for many years. “We’re forced to make difficult decisions.”
The proposed cuts include five seasons of adult sports, five seasons of youth sports, five youth sports camps, four classes, 10 special events, one swimming program and all three playground fun camps, according to a “program downsizing analysis.”
Among the proposed survivors include six seasons of adult sports, four seasons of youth sports, three theater productions a year, eight classes, two special events and swimming lessons.
Although the City Council spared the Recreation Division any major cuts in a fiscally trying 2003-04, the city’s budget outlook has since severely worsened.
And Lee expects the Recreation Division’s budget to dip from about $900,000 to $400,000 next year, he said. Taking into account program user fees paid by participants, the city’s net loss would drop from about $500,000 to $200,000.
With 36 Hollister employees set to lose their jobs, there aren’t many other areas of city government left to sever, officials say. Recreation’s share of the layoffs would cut its full-time staff to two workers – down from five employees a year ago.
Even though it’s just a proposal, cancellation of endangered summer programs such as coed softball, youth basketball and Fun Camp, Lee said, is “a pretty sure bet.”
That’s because the City Council budget hearings won’t take place until possibly late May. And there wouldn’t be enough time left to organize those summer seasons, he said.
Parks and Recreation Commissioner Chris Alvarez is upset at the “huge impacts” of such recreation cuts, he said, namely the abrupt news of summer coed softball’s demise.
But he doesn’t believe the Council will eliminate the entire division.
“No, it won’t happen,” Alvarez said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not going to happen.”
Several factors played into deciding what offerings stay or go, Lee said. They included: participation; effect on staffing; whether the sport is offered multiple times a year; whether it’s offered by a nonprofit or private group; and cost.
Lee also emphasized keeping as many youth programs as would be feasible, he said. It’s more difficult for kids to organize alternative activities, he said, than it is for adults.
After the Council presumably imposes the cuts, Lee and other officials hope private businesses and nonprofit organizations, such as the local YMCA, pick up the slack.
“Let people put their own programs out there,” Bruscia said. “I just think it’s a better way for the community to help the city get through this tough time.”
Officials encouraged residents who may be upset over the drop in services to attend upcoming Council meetings and the budget hearings next month. Alvarez requested they come to the Parks and Recreation meetings, too.
“I hope they come to our meetings. If they’re mad, come to our meetings, contact a City Council person,” he said.
Martinez, meanwhile, said softball players are circulating a petition showing support for maintaining the program. It would be a shame, he said, to see its demise.
“Hollister,” he said, “is known as a baseball community.”
