MORGANTOWN — Monongalia County Commission President Tom Bloom said the commission is willing to discuss parks and recreation with members of Morgantown City Council, but doesn’t want to be blamed for the financial situation the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners (BOPARC) finds itself in.
The issue is not a new one. In fact, according to The Dominion Post archive, debates over who should pay, and how much, led to the disbanding of the county-wide Monongalia County Consolidated Recreation Commission (MCCRC) in 1981. The commission was a collaborative effort between the city, county and the board of education.
A month before the MCCRC held its final meeting, the first five-member board of the city’s newly formed BOPARC were sworn in.
The issue resurfaced during the most recent Morgantown City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, during which BOPARC Executive Director Melissa Wiles said the expansion of the city’s parks, facilities and recreational programs has far outstripped any funding increases over the years, leaving the agency struggling to keep up.
Roughly $1.3 million, or 39 percent, of BOPARC’s budget comes from the city. A similar amount is generated through fees and the rest is a combination of grants, sponsorships and other funding sources, including the county.
As part of the conversation, members of council noted the county contributed $50,000 of BOPARC’s $3.3 million operating budget with the understanding the funds were to be used specifically for the summer concert series, in keeping with the county’s procedure for granting funding requests.
It was also pointed out that county residents make up as much as half the visitors using some BOPARC facilities, leading Deputy Mayor Mark Brazaitis to question why city residents should have to subsidize use of BOPARC facilities for everyone else.
Bloom said the commission has always been willing to consider any funding request from BOPARC and assisted the agency’s participation in a five-year parks and recreation levy passed by voters in 2016 through which BOPARC receives $455,000 annually for upgrades and improvements to the Morgantown Ice Arena.
He said there are also hotel/motel taxes realized by the city specifically for tourism and recreation, but only a portion of those funds is provided to BOPARC.
“It’s very frustrating to the county commissioners. We’re more than willing to be open,” Bloom said. “But the county is not going to step in now and pay for what is basically the city’s deferred or neglected maintenance of its parks. That said, if we can find a basis where we can work together in a fair, equitable manner, I believe it’s something that should be looked at.”
Bloom went on to question why members of council would essentially label half of BOPARC’s patrons a liability.
“The bottom line is BOPARC could not survive without the county residents,” he said. “The city chooses to have these amenities, which we think is wonderful, but don’t blame someone else for their responsibility. I’ll go one step further — this us-versus-them attitude is not helping anything — it’s not helping the businesses, the future of the community or our area.”
Asked if she could foresee going back to a county-wide recreation system, Morgantown City Council and BOPARC member Jenny Selin said like most things, it would depend on the details.
“I think that could go either way, but however we organize the park systems, they need to be well-funded,” Selin said. “We need more of a commitment from the city for funding and we need more of a commitment from the county for funding. It would make no sense to fund all the parks equally poorly. It matters most whether the county and the city each have a commitment to fund parks, wherever they’re located.”
Selin said she doesn’t see the city, county relationship as adversarial when it comes to parks.
“My approach has always been to be inviting and encouraging of the county to help fund BOPARC, because BOPARC welcomes everyone, regardless of where they live,” Selin said. “Would I like to see more of a collaboration? I think that would be very appropriate. The bottom line is we need well-funded parks in both the city and the county.”
Follow The DominionPost on Twitter @DominionPostWV. Email Ben Conley: bconley@dominionpost.com.
