The city of Phoenix Parks and Recreation General Obligation Bond (GO Bond) Subcommittee may cut millions of dollars from four proposed projects to fund three new ones.
The Parks and Recreation Subcommittee is one of eight subcommittees for the proposed 2023 GO Bond program, which is worth $500 million. The bond money would fund a variety of needs in Phoenix, including city facility repairs and the construction of vital infrastructure. After subcommittee meetings have concluded, project plans will be finalized and approved by the Executive Bond Committee. Arizonans will then decide whether to approve the GO Bond Program by casting their vote in the 2023 special election.
In the Parks and Recreation Subcommittee’s third of four meetings, the goal was to identify a universal list of projects to be considered for ranking and evaluation. There were already 13 prioritized projects, and three new projects were proposed at the meeting. However, to fund the new projects, $7.1 million would have to be cut from the original projects’ $109 million budget. Phoenix Parks and Recreation Director Cynthia Aguilar presented the four projects that would receive budget cuts.
The South Mountain Roadway Safety Enhancements Project would take the most damage. The original project plan was to complete 15 miles of roadways throughout the park, but that would have to be reduced to just 6.4 miles after receiving what would be a $4.9 million cut.
Concerned subcommittee member Jeff Spellman asked if funding to complete the project could be found elsewhere.
“We would definitely look towards other sources of funding. 3PI could be one of those sources that we [look] at to get that work done,” Aguilar said to Spellman.
The other three projects would receive less severe budget cuts. The South Mountain Community Center and Washington Activity Center Projects would receive $1 million in budget cuts, which would delay bathroom renovations.
The Telephone Pioneers of America Park Recreation Center Project would lose $500,000, which is intended to go towards demolishing a dirt hill that enables vandalism by giving people access to the roof of the building.
Other sources of funding would be examined to make up for these budget cuts as well, but subcommittee Vice Chair Ellie Perez-Pawloski had concerns about how equitable these proposed project cuts are.
“That is something I want to be mindful of – to make sure that when this bond goes to the voters, that everyone feels that they have a stake in the game and that they are going to vote for this,” Perez-Pawloski said.
Aguilar explained that equitability was considered as these project cuts affect not just one, but multiple city districts. The goal was to be as fair as possible when deciding which project budgets to cut.
The Parks and Recreation Subcommittee also discussed potential projects for bicycle facilities that are on park land, which would likely lead to reallocating more of the budget.
Street Transportation Director Kini Knudsen explained proposed projects in the Street and Storm Drainage GO Bond Subcommittee that involve bike facilities.
“We had a unanimous approval by council on Sept. 7 for our road safety action plan… if this GO Bond program funding goes through, it would provide additional funding to be able to implement faster safety measures to provide safer streets for vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles – however anybody interacts with the roadways. So, this could potentially work to improve or provide new bicycle facilities,” Knudsen said.
After talking over the numerous potential budget changes, each subcommittee member completed a survey about project priority ranks and how they think funding should be reallocated. The surveys will be evaluated at the next meeting.
Contact the reporter at avryan@asu.edu
