NUTTER: Park Funding

Yes. As Mayor, I will work with City Council to expand and diversify the funding sources for Fairmount Park. The broad and diverse governance structure outlined above would be better positioned to pursue various strategies for increasing the funding of the Park system.

That funding is significantly inadequate and has been frozen at about $13 million for most of the past decade. This level of funding is a small fraction of the per capita and per acre funding levels of our peer cities and experts estimate that an appropriate Park budget would be at least $30 million per year. Three critical sources of new funding for the Park are: (1) working with City Council to allow the Park to retain some of the revenues that are now and could be in the future generated inside the Park system, including user fees and new market-based concession and other activities; (2) the capture of environmental costs through new grants and fees that recognize the importance of the Park to the region’s watershed, including possible surcharges on water and sewer fees, and contributions to the Park from the City’s water fund; and (3) the creation of a new “Fairmount Park Fund” as a transparent vehicle for current budgeting within the City budget process and to channel new fundraising efforts, especially in coordination with private donors and possible sources in the suburban counties. The existence of such a lockbox fund facilitates fundraising efforts by making needs clear, maintenance of existing efforts certain, and ensuring the dedication of new resources to Park activities exclusively.

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