Park District 2014 Refelctions

Glen Ellyn Park District President Gary Mayo shared his thoughts on some recent discussions at our last Board meeting. I agree with President Mayo and asked if I could share his speech on my blog. Below is his speech from "Matters from Commissioners" at the December 16,2014 Board Meeting:

With the end of another year approaching, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a few minutes to reflect on recent events at the Park District, and think about where we’re heading.

Based on the goals presented by staff and the capital projects planned, 2015 will be an ambitious and exciting year.  I truly believe that this Park District provides an incredible value to our residents, and contributes greatly to the overall quality of life within our community.  And of course when I say “we”, I am mostly referring to Dave and his fantastic staff who does the actual work, and all the volunteers who contribute their time and effort so freely to help make it all possible. We as Board members play a small yet integral part. I, for one, am proud of the role we all play in helping to make this the wonderful community that it is. 

Lately, the District seems to have generated a fair amount of controversy, at least among a vocal few, largely because of the referendum and issues related to that.  I have to say that I don’t really understand why giving our voters the opportunity to voice their opinion regarding an indoor aquatics center, which is really all the referendum did, was so controversial, but obviously it was for some people.  While it was clear that the overwhelming majority of the community did not support a $13.5 million aquatic center, and I fully accept that outcome, I am concerned that some seem to view the result as a mandate that the Park District must reduce our spending and cut taxes, without regard to all the good work we do and the mission the Park District is responsible for fulfilling.

I come away from this experience believing that there are some community members who seem to think that our top priority should be to reduce taxes.  Let me first say that I think reducing taxes is an admirable goal.  I don’t know anybody who enjoys paying their Glen Ellyn property tax bill.  However, before you can say the Park District’s tax levy should be reduced, you have to consider where the District is starting from.  Coming up 
on 4 years now on this Board, and most of that also as Board liaison to our Citizen’s Finance Committee, I know for a fact that this Park District is already extremely efficient.  

We’ve taken several steps recently to make it even more so, including reducing headcount and expenses over the last 3 years.  The budget we approved tonight reflects the fruits of those efforts.  We have one of the lowest tax levies among Park Districts in Dupage County, and it will be THE lowest, THE LOWEST, by far, when the Ackerman construction debt is paid off in a few years.  In spite of that, we have an outstanding Park District that is the envy of many other communities. Through good management, resourceful programming, and the efforts of our dedicated staff and volunteers, the District has balanced fiscal responsibility with meeting the high recreational standards expected by the Glen Ellyn community.   We certainly want to continue to be fiscally responsible and to spend our taxpayers’ dollars wisely, and reduce taxes when and if we can, but I believe we were elected to at least maintain the level of services and facilities that the community expects. And where it makes sense, we also need to continue to enhance what we offer.  Like everything else these days, if you are standing still while the rest of the world moves forward, you are really going backwards!  If we were to 
simply strive to cut taxes, without considering these other factors and the impact on the services we provide, we would NOT be leading in a way that is consistent with our mission, and NOT doing what I believe we were elected to do.Just consider for a moment if previous Board members who sat in these chairs had made 
the reduction of taxes their #1 priority –

 There would be no ASFC.  Now, were there mistakes made in building Ackerman?  Yes, to be sure, some big mistakes.  But the end result is the community now has a tremendous asset that has become a central gathering place providing healthy recreational opportunities, and it would be hard to find anyone today who thinks it shouldn’t have been built.  The center now contributes over $250,000 every year to our operations, providing funding for other District programs while also diminishing our reliance on property taxes.  When the bonds are paid off in 3 years, that money is pure profit for our taxpayers and will continue to be expended to support Ackerman and other components of the Park District.

 No Maryknoll – no mini-golf, no splash pad, no platform tennis.  Thousands of Glen Ellyn residents would be going to neighboring towns to enjoy those activities. That property would have been developed, and that valuable open space would have most likely been gone forever.

 Village Green would either be a golf learning center or some undeveloped baseball fields.   It certainly wouldn’t be the vibrant center for baseball and other recreational activities that we have today.

 Possibly no artificial turf at Memorial Field, if the Park District hadn’t agreed to contribute our fair share to benefit all the kids who use it.

 Churchill Park, Spring Avenue, Ackerman Park – there are lots of examples. 

 And if you think about it, we probably would not even have Lake Ellyn Park and the Boathouse, if somebody 100 years ago had said:  We can’t do that – it costs too much money. 

Our community has these resources today because previous Boards had VISION!  In each case, Board members at the time made a value judgment (sometimes with the help of a referendum, sometimes not; sometimes with a survey, sometimes not; and sometimes just with instinct and common sense) and they decided that these facilities and properties would enhance the community, and were worth investing community tax dollars.  If their goal had simply been to reduce taxes, those things would not be here today and those opportunities lost forever.

I believe that this Board has an obligation, as elected representatives of our community, to continue to maintain AND ENHANCE our parks for future generations.  You can bet that the communities around us are doing that, and I want Glen Ellyn to keep pace.  I truly believe the majority in our community want that too.

Just something for you all to ponder as we head into the New Year…

I hope we keep moving forward!