(11/15) Director of Parks and Recreation Lorena Vaccare discussed how to distribute funding from the annual budget amongst the department in the next fiscal year. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board covers all of the city’s parks and aids the Taneytown Athletic Association, which is comprised of representatives from the eight active local sports programs: FSK Jr. Eagles’ basketball, football, lacrosse, field hockey and soccer; Taneytown Lions’ baseball, Taneytown Monarchs’ softball, and West Carroll’s Cheer.
In Fiscal Year 24-25, the department received $534,963 in funding, including salaries but excluding capital projects which are covered primarily by grants. According to Vaccare, these funds are divided up by priority, with safety concerns in the city’s parks as most paramount, the athletic program requests next and other park needs coming in last.
As for how the funds could be distributed, the Board floated the idea of a flat sum being given to each athletic group, however, "That doesn't make it equitable," said Vaccare. She said a flat sum would be great for field hockey because it is a smaller group but not for soccer, which tends to be the biggest.
Another option is basing a percentage of the funding on each program’s registration numbers, however that would also not be fair, as some athletic groups have smaller numbers yet higher overhead and maintenance costs.
A well-received suggestion by Member Jerry Hobbs was to look at the cost to run each program and base the percentage of funding off that number. For example, basketball uses the school so should not need to pay for any grass field maintenance as they do not use it. Another suggestion was to have a minimum amount that is guaranteed for each program.
Stephanie Clavell, West Carroll’s Cheer representative, mentioned that the Parks and Recreation Council can apply for grants as well, specifically the "Self Help Recreation Fund Program" that was developed by Carroll County. According to carrollcountymd.gov, "the program was created in an effort to boost community interest and involvement in the improvement of recreational facilities throughout Carroll County. To achieve this goal, the County has established a capital fund, which the recreation councils can utilize for this purpose." With the grant, labor is not included and must be provided by the applicant and applicants still must be able to pay a portion of the project. "If you get $25,000, you have to pay $5,000, but it’s a lot better than paying full price," said Hobbs.
The Council agreed to review the operating budgets and registration numbers of each athletic program from the previous year. A percentage of the funding pool will then be allotted to each program, with smaller programs receiving a minimum of 10%. "If any programs have a shortfall, then we can look into the self-help grant after to make up the difference," said Hobbs.
