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Hillmen Messenger

The School Newspaper of Placer High School

Hillmen Messenger

The School Newspaper of Placer High School

Hillmen Messenger

Budget Cuts at ARD affect Community

The Auburn Parks and Recreation District is facing a crisis. Huge budget cuts are being made to some of the facilities that are incorporated in the District.
Some of the cuts include: Closing the pool earlier, on August 15 instead of on Labor Day. The new closing date eliminates almost a month of pool usage. This will affect the families who swim during the hot days of summer. The kid’s splash pool that so many children enjoy will be closed earlier, along with the lap pool.
“The cuts with the pool will affect many people, especially the Placer Swim Team. But I think most people at Placer won’t really care because swim isn’t as popular as football or basketball,” said Lucy Ricciardello, a senior exchange student from Italy and member of the Placer Swim Team. “They’re closing the pool early because it costs a lot to pay the staff who keeps the pool running and to heat the pool,” said Karri Weiler, a staff member at ARD. “So, instead of firing the staff, they’re reducing the hours of the pool, this way, everyone keep their job and ARD saves money.”
Budget cuts will also affect the programs available at ARD. This includes a variety of classes they offer for citizens, and the sports program they have for adults and children alike. A lunchtime basketball league may be cut, leaving avid basketball players without a court.
The Canyon View Community Center is also being affected. Visiting hours are being cut, making the center less available to organizations that meet there. The Community Center rents out their meeting rooms and other spaces to organizations who wish to hold meetings. “At the center, they can’t afford to keep all of the staff, so they unfortunately had to let some of the staff go, therefore decreasing the hours,” said Weiler.
The custodial fees for renting out the facilities will double from $15 to $30. This means that custodians will most likely be paid less for doing their difficult jobs. The rise in custodial fees will mean less maintenance on the grounds.
There are also proposed cuts having to do with weed control and grounds maintenance, meaning that the grounds of Auburn’s beautiful parks may become overgrown.
Another possible course of action to save money will be a discontinuation of the contract that ARD and the Auburn Fairgrounds have. The Fairgrounds lease their baseball fields to be used for the Little League programs.
Although these cuts will take away some of the privileges that Auburn residents enjoy, they will save the District a large sum of money.
By closing the pool early, the estimated savings will be $10,000. The increase in custodial fees will save $8,000. Decreasing the available hours at the Canyon View Community Center will save another $10,000. As for the contract with The Auburn Fairgrounds, discontinuing the leasing of the baseball fields will save about $5,000.
With an estimated total saving of $33,000, ARD will hopefully remain a favorite place to be.

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