The Local Option Sales Tax – Series IV Plan covers all of the city of Pensacola’s capital projects through Dec. 31, 2029. The project allocations total $82,837,954, which means the $9.6 million proposed for the Bayview Center and Boathouse will eat up nearly 12 percent of the funds.
The Bayview Center and Boathouse budget is 58.5 percent of the entire Parks & Rec community center and athletic facilities budget ($16.4 million), leaving no room for any additional community centers for the next 11 years.
The Bayview budget is greater than allocations for
Fire Department: $8.12 million
Police Cars: $7.22 million
Police Radio, Mobile Data Terminals: $7.16 million
Paving: $6.1 million
Improvements to Sidewalks, Intersections, Burgess Road, West Cervantes: $8.34 million
Park Improvements: $7.58 million
Energy Conservations: $5 million
ADA Improvements: $1 million
Economic Development Initiatives: $7 million
Capital Equipment – Parks & Rec, Public Works: $8.53 million
According to FY 2018 budget, Mayor Hayward will have spent $30.2 million of the $82.8 million LOST IV project allocation before the next mayor takes office in November 2018 – roughly 36 percent.
See LOST IV Plan.
I fear the city’s “new” mayor will just be a clone of Hayward. And that doesn’t bode well for Pensacola.
But but, but…the special people NEED those special amenities, Rick.
Last year, Parks & Recreation Director Brian Cooper spoke to the Scenic Heights Neighborhood Association in District 1. All of us up here on the northern end of the city are used to being told that park improvements cannot be done and park maintenance problems excused with the claim that the city is “broke.” In 2008, I heard Councilman Mike DeSorbo say that the city had too many parks and needed to sell off some to real estate developers. A few years later, I heard Ashton Hayward say the same. Last year, Cooper told us that it was unfair that city residents had access to so many parks. I believe he may live in Cantonment. Cooper said that there is not enough money in the city budget to properly maintain the city parks we already have and Hayward would like to sell off some. People living near Morris Court Park will remember that the park was horribly maintained supposedly because the city was broke. The plain truth is that Hayward is willing to spend as much as he wants on things important to him but the heck with every one else. He knows that he can pressure or seduce enough councilmembers to go along to get along. Rick’s Blog should ask the four mayoral and three District 4 candidates where they stand on the Bayview Park Community Center scandal. Two mayoral candidates – Grover Robinson and David Mayo – participated in the groundbreaking.