Mpls. may put tax hike to voters over parks repair backlog

With its aging buildings, athletic fields and playground equipment, the Minneapolis park system is dealing with a major backlog of repairs. The park board says it needs an additional $9 million per year just to maintain and operate the system.

With that funding gap expected to grow, officials may ask Minneapolis voters to approve a property tax hike next year.

Justin Long, assistant superintendent for environmental stewardship who oversees maintenance, said the majority of the park system's buildings were built within a few years of each other, and now they're growing old together.

"Between the late '60s and early '70s was our major construction period, and now they're all facing the same issues at the same time," he said.

The need for repairs is evident at Longfellow Park on the city's south side. On the back side of the recreation center, the end of one of the building's main support beams has rotted so badly it's turned to mulch.

Unless there's a big infusion of cash, Long said deterioration could reach the point where wading pools, rec centers and other amenities may have to be shut down.

"We're doing the best we can to try to keep service where it currently is, but ultimately what would end up happening is we would have to start figuring out what we could continue to provide and what we cannot," he said.

Long said budget streamlining in recent years has freed up cash for repairs. That cash has squeezed a bit more use from park structures that are past their expected life.

Park board officials say the agency eliminated 136 full time positions between 2003 and 2012 — a 23 percent reduction — and budget cuts since then have saved taxpayers around $2.3 million a year.

Former Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Andrew hopes this message of fiscal probity will resonate with Minneapolis taxpayers. He's heading up an effort to put a referendum before voters that would raise property taxes to pay for park improvements.

Andrew says there's urgent need for a new revenue stream as repair costs continue to mount.

"This is a circumstance where the costs now will be, if not completely painless, it will be fairly modest," he said. "But the impacts later on will be very dramatic."

Andrew said referendum backers are still figuring out what the tax levy will be, but they hope to put it on the city's November 2016 ballot, when turnout is expected to be high for the presidential election.

Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson said the park system's maintenance backlog is serious. But she's not yet fully on board with putting the issue before voters.

Johnson says she wants a closer look at how money is allocated to parks across the metro. She said the city's park board has been spending too much on big regional parks, such as Minnehaha and Theodore Wirth, at the expense of smaller ones.

"The operation and maintenance of those parks, I think, impinges on their ability to do enough in the neighborhood parks," she said.

Johnson added that regional parks are not getting the amount of state funding for operations and maintenance that they're supposed to. And she fears the situation could get worse as former industrial land on the riverfront north of downtown is converted to green space.

"As they increase this regional park system, it pulls on their local budgets. There's only so many dollars to go around," she said.

Nevertheless, Johnson said Minneapolis parks are popular, and she expects city voters will approve a referendum, should it be put to them 13 months from now.