As the beginning of another academic year approaches, I’m reminded of the thousands of times I have been asked, “But when am I ever going to use math?”
Here, in the dogmatic 2027 City of Minneapolis budget, is a great example. Put succinctly, why would anyone want to defund parks?
“In the mayor’s announcement of a budget of more than $2.3 billion, with an 11.3% property tax increase, he shorted the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board by more than half of what it had asked for, leaving the Park Board approximately $3.2 million short of what it needs for operations.”
In the mayor’s announcement of a budget of more than $2.3 billion, with an 11.3% pro]perty tax increase, he shorted the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board by more than half of the increase it had asked for, leaving the Park Board approximately $3.2 million short of what it needs for operations.
One-Tenth of 1% (0.1%)
I would like to put this into perspective. The $3.2 million is approximately 0.13% of a $2.3 billion budget. Yes, you read that correctly. It is barely over 1%.
To put that into perspective, if you make $60,000 per year, this would equate to $83.50, or the cost of one nice meal, in the course of a calendar year. That doesn’t even cover the cost of a Vikings ticket.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Meanwhile, in 2010 the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development department took up approximately 7% of the overall budget. Now it takes up more than 15%. That increase alone is almost 100 times what the Park Board asked for.
The department owns vacant properties, managed by CPED, that have been on the rolls for a decade or more. More than 60% of those vacant city-owned parcels are in North Minneapolis.
Speaking of North Minneapolis, one of the projectsat risk for inadequate funding is the brand-new, nearly complete North Commons Recreation Center and Fieldhouse.
The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board was given promises, despite gloomy financial projections in 2023, that when North Commons opened it would be fully funded. Who made those promises? The very person shorting the budget today.
The Cost of a Million Rubber Stamps
There is yet another way to present how insulting the underfunding of parks is, by considering the massive financial loss that comes from duplication of services inside the city.
In the realm of business, this looks like getting a health permit from the county and then waiting another two months to get one from the city. That time costs all of us, as does the actual duplication. Chalk up another $40 million there.
In calculus, we integrate to discover the area under a curve. In this situation, that area is cost. When time is stretched out for a million rubber stamps, cost overruns are ensured.
This is why so many projects are never built. After one committee comes the next subcommittee and the next working group. All of these things take time, and time is the one thing the City of Minneapolis does not have in regard to its budget.
What Parks Deliver
By contrast, investments in parks are almost immediately felt. For all the untested pilots and diversion programs that essentially flush money down the toilet, nothing seems to have better outcomes than recreation programs for children.
Softball leagues and swimming lessons, after-school child care and lifeguards all make an immediate impact on children, teens and families. The Park Board also spends on mowing and buckthorn removal, tree care and water quality measures.
We all feel the financial pinch of the city’s current mismanagement. One of the few things left that people universally enjoy is our parks: the Stone Arch Bridge Festival, movies in the Commons, walks around Lake of the Isles or bike rides along the river.
With a city budget more than 650 times the amount the Park Board is asking for, it feels rather ridiculous to even be having this conversation, doesn’t it? But here we are.
The city wants managed decline, refusing to be strategic and get back to core services. It wants an across-the-board cut on everything, which simply makes for bad math.
“In the end, the argument could land a thousand ways. And every single one would end up with the same outcome: it is shortsighted, possibly irresponsible and ultimately fiscally insulting to defund our parks.”
In the end, the argument could land a thousand ways. And every single one would end up with the same outcome: it is shortsighted, possibly irresponsible and ultimately fiscally insulting to defund our parks.
And even children can tell you that this is why we learn math.
Becka Thompson is a former Park Board commissioner who represented District 2 in North Minneapolis. She lives in Victory.
