MORGANTOWN — With more than $25 million worth of projects ramping up, in progress or recently completed, it’s hard to believe that just over five years ago, BOPARC was buried under a seemingly insurmountable pile of deferred maintenance projects.
Old facilities and, at best, meager cash reserves often meant going to the city to request emergency support when the inevitable breakdowns occurred.
But the city’s municipal sales tax — a quarter of which goes to BOPARC — has changed all that since taking effect in July 2020.
On Wednesday, the Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners created a capital maintenance fund to ensure some of that money is always available to address emergent needs within the park system.
The fund will be established with an initial amount of $1 million.
According to the resolution passed by the body, the fund shall not be treated as general revenue and shall not be used to construct or acquire new capital improvements or pay down debts. The money will be used to address “maintenance, improvement, repair and replacement of capital improvements” costing more than $25,000.
Executive Director Melissa Wiles said BOPARC is thankful for what the city’s sales tax has afforded the park system. Part of that gratitude, she continued, is making sure the facilities can be cared for into the future.
“We know we need to start planning for that right now so that future administrators and board members are not faced with failing infrastructure or situations that result in a loss of service,” Wiles said. “This fund will allow us to establish a baseline account that we can contribute to over a number of years. The fund will help the organization avoid some of those issues we’ve had to navigate in the past.”
BOPARC received just over $2.5 million in sales taxes in the fiscal year that ended June 30. It carried just over $6.1 million in sales tax reserves into the current fiscal year.
In addition to paying down bonds on two major Marilla Park projects, financing the Morgantown Ice Arena renovation and creating the $1 million maintenance fund, sales tax dollars will be used in the coming year to address playgrounds, pavilions and bleachers in multiple parks and construct maintenance facilities with attached year-round bathrooms for Krepps Park and Dorsey’s Knob.
