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Budget cuts to impact five north county parks

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BY MARK SCHANTZ

SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF

Published: May 17, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS - As they look for ways to balance planned spending for next fiscal year coupled with falling revenue, Pinellas officials are bringing "clustering" to north-county parks.

The concept will see maintenance and supervision shared among a number of North Pinellas parks.

In addition, a popular beach at one North Pinellas park will temporarily close at the end of the summer but not because of the county's money woes.

The economic slowdown and changes to the state's property tax system have city and county governments around Florida looking for ways to cut spending. The Pinellas County Parks and Recreation Department, for example, is reducing its $21 million budget for fiscal 2009 by 20 percent, or roughly $4.2 million, according to Paul Cozzie, the county's director of culture, education and leisure.

The county's 2009 budget year begins Oct. 1.

Each department in the county is searching for ways to reduce costs without negatively impacting services, Cozzie says. That will be the case for the county park system, he says.

As a result, the public should not notice a change in park appearance, level of service or operating hours, he says.

Under the new system the park service will be more proactive rather than reactive, Cozzie says. Its maintenance and supervision will be consolidated into the clusters.

For example Wall Springs Park, on the coast between Palm Harbor and Tarpon Springs, A.L. Anderson Park, on the western side of Lake Tarpon, and Fred Howard Park, on the gulf in Tarpon Springs, will be served by one maintenance crew and group of supervisors.

John Chesnut Park Sr. Park, on the eastern side of Lake Tarpon, and Philippe Park, on Upper Tampa Bay in Safety Harbor, will be in another cluster.

Park maintenance, grooming and tree trimming will be done on a schedule by crews traveling between parks within a cluster.

As part of the Parks and Recreation Department budget cuts about 60 positions, half which are vacant, will be eliminated. Some former park workers may be able to find other jobs with the county, Cozzie says.

Park rangers will patrol during normal hours of operation, so each park will not be unsupervised, Cozzie notes. In fact, there will be more rangers in each park, which should provide even more protection, he says.

The biggest change is that supervisors will not live in each park. That does not mean, however, the park will not be watched at night, Cozzie says.

Instead, Cozzie plans on renting each in-park supervisor's residence to a ranger or a law enforcement or wildlife officer. They would pay a reduced rent and utilities fees in exchange for watching over the park at night, he says.

The closing of the beach area at Fred Howard Park - for 14-months starting just after the traditional end-of-summer Labor Day weekend - is not tied to budget cuts, Cozzie says. Rather, the pair of bridges along the two-lane causeway are showing decades of weathering and must be replaced, he says.

The beach is at the western end of the mile-long causeway.

During the bridge reconstruction project the park area on the mainland portion of Fred Howard Park will remain open for picnics and gatherings, Cozzie says. About 2 million people visit the park each year, the county says.

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com

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