Fresno councilmember blasts plan for a tax to help parks. He says he has a better idea
Amid efforts to establish a groundswell of support for a tax to help Fresno parks and public safety, Councilmember Garry Bredefeld on Wednesday announced a proposal he says would make the tax unnecessary — while also opening up green spaces citywide.
Fresno voted down the Measure P tax to benefit parks in 2018. A new yet similar tax is in the works, but it would fund both parks and public safety.
Bredefeld said he didn’t support Measure P and is against the new proposed tax, which recently became public. He says city leaders should be smarter about their spending and prioritize infrastructure, public safety and solving homelessness.
“The city of Fresno does not spend money appropriately for those very basic services now,” Bredefeld said. “You can’t go ask for tax increases when you don’t spend your money right.”
The City Council on Thursday is set to vote on about $6.6 million in carryover funds — money that either was not spent in the first half of the fiscal year or comes from revenue that exceeded expectations.
He said the spending plan is just the latest example of poor money management by local government.
While some of the planned spending in the budget update goes to important efforts like infrastructure, many of those efforts are unnecessary and should go to higher priorities, according to Bredefeld. He pointed to $100,000 in proposed pay to interns, $250,000 for a 2020 U.S. Census outreach effort, a $1.3 million community center and another $1 million for a “Housing Trust Fund” as a few of several frivolous “pet projects.”
He also pointed to another nearly $4 million built into the budget that he says will be misspent.
Ponding basins
Bredefeld said he has a cheaper and quicker way to get more parks than asking for a new tax. The Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District oversees 23 sites in Fresno and Clovis that are used as parks when they are not filled with water, including parks like Frick, George R. Marcus Jr. and Carozza.
Some of the parks are open April to October, while others are used year round.
But the Flood Control District oversees more than 150 basins, many that are used only to collect water and are off limits to folks who might want to use the fields when they are dry. Bredefeld said the city should pursue efforts to work with community or private groups to get those green spaces maintained and open to the public.
“That’s just thinking outside the box,” he said. “They exist throughout the city.”
Parks like Kaiser and Oso del Oro were once stormwater basins but, with the help of private organizations, now have baseball fields, climbing structures and other amenities seen in most parks.
Fresno has had a park problem for decades. The city needs to add 1,769 acres to meet the appropriate level of park services for Fresno’s population by 2035, according to the city’s parks master plan. Replacing aging parts of the park would cost $112 million, according to the plan.
Bredefeld said he has not discussed his own idea for expanding park space with anyone else on the council or with Mayor Lee Brand.
Councilmember Miguel Arias said Bredefeld lives in a privileged district and is missing the benefits of the spending he denounces. The spending on the U.S. Census, for example, represents a small investment in what could be large returns in federal funding. The southern parts of the city are more likely to suffer from a low census count, he said.
“It’s not surprising that the councilmember who represents the wealthiest part of the city doesn’t see the need for new community centers or affordable housing in our city,” he said. “He’s spending his time having press conferences and not meeting with fellow (councilmembers).”
Supporters of a new tax to pay for the creation and maintenance of parks said the basin idea is a good one, but is too limited to solve Fresno’s park shortage on its own.
Using the basins has been an idea for some time, but would only be a piece of the larger plan, according to Sandra Celedon, president and CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities. Fresno’s parks spending make up 4% of general fund spending while police make up about half.
“Garry is saying we should spend our tax dollars more efficiently,” she said. “We should look at what we’re spending the most on.”
Many cities slashed parks and recreation funding during the Great Recession, and many departments, like Fresno’s, have never recovered.
“This isn’t about politics,” Celedon said. “This is about people and improving the quality of life.”
While making basins into green spaces could help improve access to parks, Arias said, it does not add any revenue to help maintain the already deferred maintenance at any park.
“I like the idea of converting water basins to parks,” he said. “If you pay attention to those conversations, it takes millions of dollars to build and millions of dollars to maintain them.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 10:42 AM.
