At a glance, Evansville is spending $86.87 per capita (for each person) annually on parks and recreation, compared to the national average of $93.01. Not bad. However, unlike the vast majority of cities nationwide, Evansville still includes a zoo within its parks and recreation budget. When funding for the zoo is excluded, Evansville is funding the remainder of its parks and recreation department at a rate of $43.09 per capita, less than half the national average and well below other cities in Indiana.
The vast majority of public zoos in the USA have been reorganized as 501c3 zoological society organizations which still receive annual city funding, but exists separate from the parks and recreation department. As a case study, South Bend, Indiana reorganized their zoo from parks & recreation department to a zoological society in 2014 and is still going strong today.
Based on NRPA’s national average index, a city the size of Evansville should expect to have an average annual budget of +/- $11,000,000.00 for parks and recreation, not including any zoo expenses. This baseline number would still place Evansville behind other Indiana cities in parks spending per capita, but ahead of our current funding rates.
STAFFING
The Evansville’s parks and recreation staffing is deficient compared to other Indiana cities and the national average. Evansville employs 38 full time employees and (80) part time employees, for an average of (78) full-time equivalent employees. Based on the NRPA’s national average index, a city the size of Evansville should expect to employ 104 full-time equivalent parks and recreation employees. Comparable cities in Indiana have over 200 full-time equivalent employees. On average, operations and maintenance accounts for nearly 50% of full-time equivalent staffing in parks and recreation departments. Based on these findings, it is not surprising at all that Evansville’s park facilities are so far behind on maintenance and upkeep.
How to solve our Parks problem?
Request that the city make a renewed commitment to parks and recreation by increasing the annual budget to $11 million (not including the zoo) over a period of three years. This is still below the funding level of other cities in Indiana. Utilize this funding to make maintenance priority number one. Maintenance alone in a city this size should have an annual budget of +/- $5 million.
(Exert and opinion above was copy and pasted from the RUNDELL ERNSTBERGER ASSOCIATES – Evansville Parks and Recreation 5 year Master Plan)