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On Monday, September 16, the Park and Recreation Commission assembled for a meeting with Town Manager Andy Sheehan. They were set to discuss a number of topics, including the funding and finances for the Park and Recreation Department.
After a lengthy discussion about the value of recreation to the Sudbury community, and the various expenses covered by the Recreation Field Maintenance Enterprise Fund, the commissioners honed in on the big issue that would determine the future of the department: funding.
In simple terms, the department has two key forms of revenue: fees it collects from programs, memberships and field rentals, as well as funding it gets from the Town of Sudbury general fund for a portion of department salaries. They have a revolving fund and two enterprise funds which are simply vehicles for capturing and utilizing revenue they collect.
Those funds are designed so the department can function somewhat like a private business, where it self-funds the majority of its operations. If the Town budget stops helping to fund some of the department salaries, the department will have to charge higher fees to cover those salaries through it’s own operating revenues, or make cuts.
Buckle Up
Sheehan was forthright with his message to the commissioners regarding funding the department. As Sheehan has previously stated, he would like to eventually stop subsidizing the Town’s enterprise funds via the general fund. Early in the meeting he cited the fiscal challenges the Town faces, as well as pressures created by Proposition 2 ½, and the minimal growth of residential and commercial developments in Sudbury. Then he delivered the bad news:
“I don’t know that we’ll have the ability in the near-term to take on more of the Park and Rec budget into the general fund. I’d love to be able to stay status quo. I can’t say that either. It may be that we need to transition the two positions out of the general fund and into the enterprise. What I will say is we’re not going to do that in one fell swoop. I don’t like to do that. And if we can do that gradually, if we decide that’s the direction we have to go, we would try to do that gradually. I can’t say that’s two years, or five years, or ten years. But I don’t want drop a $150,000 bomb in your laps, you know? But I think it behooves all of us to look at the revenue sources, look at the revenue amounts, look at what we’re charging, and really evaluate it in light of the market. And are we comparable to the Beede Center in Concord, or another operation that’s in a community similar to Sudbury.”
(1:10:35)
While no decisions have officially been made, it sounded as though it was inevitable that the funding the department receives from the Town will eventually go away. Sheehan went on to tell the commission that he does not expect implementation of such a transition to begin in Fiscal Year 2026, which gives the department some runway to deal with upcoming pool closures and ongoing disruptions from the construction of the community center. But Sheehan leveled with them again:
“I know I didn’t come in with a lot of good news tonight and I feel bad about that. I’d rather serve you up the truth as I see it at this point in time, rather than tell you things are going to be rosy and then 6 months from now come in and say we’re going to make a dramatic change and you’re on your own to figure it out. I don’t like it when people do that to me and I don’t want to do that to you.”
(1:28:40)
A discussion about fees ensued, and the commissioners referenced the last comparative fee study they did, indicating that user groups have not responded well to the last couple fee increases. Commissioners seemed unanimous in their desire not to increase fees. Vice Chair Laurie Eliason added:
“Then it gets passed on to the athletes and their families, right? So they have to cover their expenses, so that’s something to consider. But my recollection was that Sudbury seemed very high. And any time there’s a mention of increasing fees I shudder as a result. And we’re already seeing it not even just in fields, but also in programming.”
(1:31:54)
Searching the Couch Cushions
While the Park and Recreation commissioners were blunt in sharing their disappointment, as they had been advocating to find room in the Town budget to modestly increasing funding for the department, they were also appreciative for Sheehan’s candor. But that didn’t stop them from raising a variety of other issues they perceived with the department’s finances.
To start, the Recreation Field Maintenance Enterprise fund is being used to maintain bathrooms near the SMILE playground at Haskell Field, court maintenance throughout town, as well as supporting the Parks and Grounds budget. In other words: groups like Sudbury Soccer or Lincoln-Sudbury Youth Baseball that rent the fields are actually paying to maintain more than just the fields they rent.
To highlight how the maintenance funds are being stretched thin, member Bobby Beagan pointed out that some of those groups invest in field maintenance over and above what they pay in fees, either through donations or community service days. Commissioners felt this use of the enterprise fund already put undue pressure on local nonprofit user groups to subsidize what they saw as Town operations.
Member Mara Huston asked if it was possible to look at other groups in the Culture & Recreation functional area of the Town budget to share the burden. She expressed frustration that the Goodnow Library severed ties with the Friends of the Goodnow Library, which provided annual funding for the library. She felt that the library could create budget room for the Park and Recreation department if it were to reestablish a relationship with the Friends of the Goodnow Library. (1:22:25)
Sheehan appeared receptive to opening a dialogue about what expenses the Park and Recreation department should be covering with the fields enterprise fund, going so far as to say the Town needs to do some work to clarify where the line is drawn between the Park and Recreation department’s responsibilities and the general fund.
If they can shift some of the expenses carried by the department over to the Town budget, that could make it easier Park and Recreation to either enhance programming, or absorb salaries when the Town starts to shift them over the department to self-sustain.
Chair Ben Carmel asked about how the department might fit into a Town operating override, if that were to happen in the future. Sheehan was careful not to speculate, but kept the door open that the Park and Recreation department could factor into hypothetical override conversations. He also reminded the commission that overrides are not binding in the long-term. An override for a given service in one fiscal year is binding, but it just becomes part of the tax levy the next fiscal year, at which time the service can be cut and the tax dollars deployed elsewhere. (1:20:00)
More Talk
Town Manager Andy Sheehan made it clear that he viewed this meeting as the start, not the end, of conversations with the Park and Recreation Commission. It was also clear that the Park and Recreation Commission was eager to begin new conversations with their user groups… the folks who rent their fields and use their programs.
Member Bobby Beagan indicated that he felt it was critical to initiate broader community conversations and for user groups to speak up:
“But I do encourage folks to share this with their friends and other community members because I think it is so important that we need better involvement from the user groups and from passive recreations folks, and whoever it may be, because the community is so large that does take advantage of these different amenities and services. And we really need those people to start to get more involved so that the town knows that they’re not gonna sit back and just keep paying.”
(1:26:26)
Member Mara Huston closed things out with a simple statement about how she perceives the value of recreation in Sudbury:
“We’re the tail and our tail is getting cut off. And we need to remember that without recreation there’s a lot of people who will be dramatically affected. And recreation provides an important component of the mental health of the community, and that part of it is priceless.”
If a fundamental change to their funding model is implemented, the Sudbury Park and Recreation department is faced with difficult choices about the future. Does it raise fees across the board? Create new membership options at the community center and Atkinson pool? Eliminate valued, but less lucrative, programs?
One thing seems certain after Monday’s meeting: change is coming.