ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703100088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Problems in the parks a special report
SOURCE: DAN CASEY THE ROANOKE TIMES
City officials say the demands for social services may be taking a financial toll that is being felt by the parks.
In fiscal 1995, Roanoke spent $29.27 per resident on parks and recreation - or about 36 percent below the state average for parks spending by cities.
When all 41 Virginia cities were ranked in per capita parks spending in 1995, Roanoke finished 33rd.
More than a quarter of the other 40 cities spent at least twice what Roanoke did per capita. Those cities include Richmond, Charlottesville, Bristol, Galax, Covington, Lexington, Bedford and Salem.
Those 1995 numbers don't appear to be a fluke: Five times between 1981 and 1995, the city ranked last or next to last in per-capita parks and recreation expenditures among the 41 cities.
The figures on parks and recreation spending in Virginia cities come from annual reports by the state Auditor of Public Accounts. They show operational spending for athletic programs and maintenance but not large capital expenditures, such as land purchases or major park development.
Although numbers offered in the report don't allow 100 percent precise comparisons, City Finance Director Jim Grisso conceded they are the "best apples-to-apples numbers that are available."
Why is Roanoke's park spending low? It's hard to pinpoint. The same isn't true for other categories of city spending such as public safety, general government administration or education. Those all run close to the state spending averages for cities.
"I really don't know why," said John Coates, who's been at the helm of Parks and Recreation for about three years. He surmises that financial pressure on Roanoke in the area of social services has something to do with it.
"Older cities that are core cities have a lot of other pressures to deal with," he said. ``We've got a lot of other programs that have to be funded, and for whatever reasons they've taken priority over parks."
Until it was brought to their attention by The Roanoke Times, City Council members seemed unaware of Roanoke's comparatively low spending on parks. Councilmen Jack Parrott, William White, Jim Trout and Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt said it was news to them.
Former Councilman Mac McCadden, perhaps the most pro-recreation person to serve on council in the last 10 years, was aghast.
McCadden said he pushed for better-maintained parks with the city administration. "You get told, 'We just don't have the money,' and 'We'll look into it.' I didn't push as hard as getting a coalition of council members with me to force changes in the budget, and I feel sorry about that now. If I had known, it probably would have been something I really would have gone after."
"It's certainly not something that we can be proud of," said Parrott, a construction engineer on council since 1994. "But on the other hand, you look at some of the things that we do have to spend money on."
Said White: "I know just from general experience traveling around - to Hampton, Norfolk and other places - that our programs and what we do is comparable to what's going on elsewhere. I don't think we're that far behind. If we are, we need to look into it."
Grisso said the numbers may be skewed by accounting differences between Roanoke and other cities.
For instance, maintenance of the city's recreation centers is a budget item covered by the city's Building Maintenance office, rather than Parks and Recreation, Grisso says. That may be counted as a park expenditure in other cities, inflating their totals. But even if that's the case, it would account for only a small portion of the difference between Roanoke and the state average, Grisso said.
While Roanoke's 1995 park spending appears low compared with other cities, it's slightly more than the average spent by counties - $26.09 per capita. In the same year, Roanoke County spent $22.36 per person on parks and recreation.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Charts by staff. 1. Parks spending in Virginia. 2.by CNB1981-1995 Roanoke parks and recreation spending. color. KEYWORDS: MGR