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MetroParks document details cost savings from staff cuts
YOUNGSTOWN
A budget analysis related to the recent staff shake-up at Mill Creek MetroParks details an estimated savings of $13.2 million over the next 15 years from elimination of 20 positions.
That breaks down to savings of $883,073 per year from wages, workers’ compensation allocations, Medicare payments, retirement savings contributions, health care and life, vision and dental insurance, according to a document released by the MetroParks in response to a public-records request.
Of those 20 positions included in the MetroParks’ restructuring, six were cut through attrition after resignations. A police sergeant position was eliminated after the death of an officer.
Elimination of the other 13 positions raised the ire of some community members after Vindicator reporting revealed that some of those staff members were summarily dismissed while park police officers were made to stand by. Some have questioned the fact that the restructuring eliminated the park’s horticulture director and only full-time naturalist.
Some also have expressed outrage that staff cuts followed approval at the polls of a 15-year MetroParks renewal levy.
MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young, however, has said the park system needs to become more “sustainable, organized, efficient and proactive,” characterizing the cuts as necessary for the MetroParks to be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars.
“I do want to acknowledge that any time an organization undergoes a restructuring ... it can be difficult for anyone involved,” Young said in an interview this week. “A lot of what we’ve talked about with the reorganization is efficiency and costs and budgets and capital improvements, and we need to keep in mind that even though we’re discussing those kinds of analytical or financial data ... it’s not a reflection” on staff members and their years of service.
“The personal component to analyzing an organization is often overlooked and left out. It’s my intent to share these analytics and to share this information in an effort to demonstrate our level of commitment to the community that we’re here for many generations,” he said.
An additional 0.25-mill included in the recently renewed MetroParks levy will generate roughly $16 million toward the park’s $30 million worth of capital improvements that are planned in that 15-year period. Park officials say the savings from restructuring will contribute significantly to the remaining $14 million that is needed.
In the near future, those capital projects will include regular annual improvements to roads, bridges, parking, trails, signage, pavilions and shelters, and bikeways, as well as “location-specific” projects, Young said.
Park staffers are in the planning stages of a project to restore the Lanterman’s Mill wheel. Young said the MetroParks will be able to complete that project two years ahead of schedule, with plans to begin next year.
Park planners also are working on improvement projects for the Ford Nature Center and the Wick Recreation Area, Young said. Staffers also are working to develop a master plan for the Mill Creek Golf Course.
A key component of the MetroParks’ capital-improvement plans, Young said, will be to bring in third-party dollars from grants and donations. The park system’s 2016 budget details estimated third-party contributions to capital-improvement projects totaling more than $1 million from grants, the Mill Creek MetroParks Foundation and Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens.
“A lot of these projects we want to move to the forefront have third-party dollars attached,” he said. For example, he noted that the Lanterman’s Mill wheel rehabilitation will receive funds raised by a group that sold a “Recipes of Youngstown” cookbook to benefit that project.
Further cuts are not on the immediate horizon, Young said.
“The majority of the cuts were with regards to position eliminations,” he said. “Now what we’re looking at is making sure we can maintain the services we provide and explore other services that we’re currently not providing.”
He said the MetroParks will look for opportunities to expand its services in ways that will not contribute to the capital-improvement shortfall. He used as an example a recent project that incorporated installation of pickleball courts at Yellow Creek Park into improvements to the tennis courts there.
In an interview prior to the November election about the MetroParks levy, Young not only noted that staff cuts were a possibility, but that activity-fee and staff-wage increases also were under consideration.
Those two additional changes are not yet slated for implementation, he said this week.
“Our fees are something that we review annually. We have not begun the discussion of the annual fees,” he said. “I do anticipate discussions with the board later on in the year.”
As for raises, which park staffers have not received since 2009, Young said, “There has been no discussion to date with the board on any type of financial increases or raises for the staff.”
The park leadership is in negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unions, he noted.