Oregon Parks and Recreation Department: Budget Plan

Budget Proposal Agency: Oregon Park and Recreation Department (OPRD) Agency's Mission: "To provide and protect outstanding natural, scenic, cultural, historic, and recreational sites for the enjoyment and education of present and future generations" (OPRD, 2011). To attain its mission, the agency organizes its operations into six work areas; direct services, community support and grants, park development, central services, Oregon exposition center, and director's office (OPR, 2011). The agency operates a total of sixteen programs scattered across the six work areas.

Of the sixteen, Park Experiences takes up the largest amount of funds - approximately 36% of the total lottery revenues - and accounts for 39% of the agency's total budget (OPRD, 2011) Proposal: Cut down spending on Interpretative program. Identified Need: OPRD does not receive any funding from the General Fund Tax kitty, and only relies "on a mix of Other Funds, Lottery Funds and a small amount of Federal Funds, plus a similarly small amount of transfers from other agencies" (OPRD, 2011, p. 1-1).

Gas tax refunds, ATV permits, RV registrations, and visitor fees are the main contributors to the 'Other Funds' kitty, which is largely used to run the facilities that generate the revenue (OPRD, 2011). Federal Funds mainly go into supporting heritage grants and community recreation, and the Lottery Funds, the agency's main source of revenue, into park maintenance and improvement, as well as acquisitions (OPRD, 2011). Revenues from Lottery Funds have fallen consistently, from $79 million dollars in 2013 to $78 million in March, 2014 (Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission, 2014).

The agency's budget has risen considerably over the same period, from $242.7 million in the 2011-13 biennium to $335.3 in the 2013-15 biennium (Rocco & Hill, 2013). If the trend continues, the Lottery fund revenue will soon be unable to support the department's rising expenses, and a repeat of the state system failure experienced in 2009 would then be inevitable. Additionally, the department's equivalents in neighboring states are operating at significantly lower budgets; the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation's budget for 2013-15 biennium stands at $201 million.

Description: on average, the department spends 25% of the Lottery fund revenue on hosts' salaries (OPRD, 2011). Reducing the number of contractual hosts and having more volunteers come in to assist during peak periods such as weekends and public holidays could significantly reduce the department's wage expenses. Salaries are due to rise, especially after the passage of the HB5201 (Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission, 2014).

The additional allocation of $2.9 million advanced to the department by the federal government to cover the increase in salaries brought about by HB5201 may not sufficiently do so (Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission, 2014). Since the department relies heavily on internal hiring, some of the current contractual hosts could, at the expiry of their contracts, be promoted to permanent positions in other areas within the department, and their places taken over by volunteers. Selection and promotion could be done on the basis of performance for both volunteers and contractual hosts.

Table 1: Estimated Proposal Costs (Year 1 to 5) Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Personnel Benefits and salaries- $14.50/hr*20 hrs/week* 12 months $13,920 $13,000 $12,920 $12,000 $9,400 Travel 5 paid-out trips (100 miles each) * 50 cents a mile Hotel & Lodging for 5 trips ($100 per night) $250 $500 $250 $500 $250 $500 $250 $500 $250 $500 Training $250 training materials plus $250 for food and $500 location for year 1; increasing through year 5 $1,000 $1,200 $2,000 $2,400 $2,700 Ad Strategy (for Volunteers) 6 media buys on three local TV stations ($50 per buy for year 1; 60 for year 2; 70 for year 3; 80 for year 4 and 85 for year 5) $300 $360 $420 $480 $510 Press Events 6 press events conducted every two months ($100 per.