Strawberry Rec Makes Deep Cuts, Looks Ahead

With its facilities and parks long past their prime and employee costs eating up 93 percent of its generated revenue, the Strawberry Recreation District cut its staff by more than half, hoping to come up with more than $400,000 for a bevy of improvement projects over the next five years.

"We are simply not functioning at the level of other similar agencies in California," District Manager Leanne Kreuzer said. "The current system is just not a viable business model moving forward financially."

At the conclusion of a budget process than began in March, the district's board of directors decided to offer its seven employees voluntary buyouts, and four employees accepted. The one-time severance payments will cost the district $150,000, and the buyouts will save the district approximately $280,000 a year, according to Kreuzer.

The departing employees had been with the district between eight and 22 years and included an aquatics supervisor, two maintenance workers and an administrative assistant. Part-time and contract workers will fill in some of their duties, but most of the work will fall to existing staff, Kreuzer said.

The district, established in 1949, oversees the recreation center, fields, tennis courts and pool at Strawberry Park, as well as with six other parks in Strawberry, an unincorporated community of about 5,000 residents. The district's annual operating budget is $1.2 million

Most of the district's buildings were constructed in the 1970s, and little has been spent on their maintenance since then, Kreuzer said. Overgrown vegetation, dying trees and sidewalks and stairways badly in need of repair are just a few of the problems facing the district.

Board President Jennifer Klopfer said the cuts were necessary to make the district sustainable. Quite simply, she said, the district is limited in generating new revenue from the facilities until those facilities are improved.

"The community has asked us, 'why is this facility not top-notch?'" Klopfer said. "We live in an affluent community of million-dollar plus homes and it's transforming into more of a community of families. We have to make this facility something the community can use and we need to be competitive with neighboring facilities."

That is particularly true given the competition of both public and private facilities nearby like the Mill Valley Community Center and the Harbor Point Tennis and Swim Club, she said.

For the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the board identified $69,000 worth of repairs that it could afford. Most of them are for disabled access improvements and safety-related upgrades, include concrete repair around the pool, resurfacing of some tennis courts, refinishing the gym floor and vegetation removal from around the recreation center.

The district draws its revenue from a range of sources, including property taxes, rentals use fees and programs and camps. The district also serves as a conduit of sorts for Marin County's dredging and flood prevention efforts in Flood Zone 4, which includes part of Strawberry.

The district has drummed up some new revenue of late as its expanded Strawberry Camps program has brought in $150,000 this year, up from $27,000 last year.

But in order to generate revenue for programs and facilities rentals, the facilities themselves must improve, Kreuzer said.

"To increase rental fees, we need improve the facility first," Kreuzer said.