A new funding source for parks and recreation in Austin: the Parks Maintenance Fee
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2025 9:36 am
On behalf of CM Ellis:
Colleagues,
As you know, we enter the 2025–2026 budget cycle facing difficult choices, due to the property tax revenue cap imposed by the State Legislature. Without new sources of funding – such as a Parks Maintenance Fee – we will have a challenging time maintaining the wide range of services our residents rely on every day, much less enhancing them.
Among those services, few are as beloved or widely used as our parks and recreation system. From neighborhood playgrounds to destination spaces like Zilker Park, from recreation centers to nature preserves, from pools and splash pads to community gardens and dog parks, from summer camps to senior activities, from athletics leagues to cemeteries, our parks and recreation system touches the life of every Austinite.
PARD’s programs and facilities bring connection to nature, connection to each other, joy, and health. They are vital to our city’s identity and quality of life. But maintaining them requires sustained, reliable funding, and it is clear that the status quo is not enough. Indeed, Austin’s ParkScore, a national comparison of park systems across the 100 most populated cities in the United States produced by the Trust for Public Land, dropped ten places from 44th to 55th in 2025; our Amenities subscore (think sports fields, restrooms, and rec centers) was the lowest, followed by our Equity subscore.
Fortunately, Council unanimously acknowledged the pressing need for new funding sources for PARD in November 2024, approving a resolution brought by MPT Pool (20241121-072) that assembled a working group of City staff and consultant expertise to make recommendations on this issue. We look forward to reviewing their final report, which was due on May 31st, as soon as possible.
However, we are now only three weeks away from the presentation of the City Manager’s proposed budget. I believe there will be strong support among us for increased investment in our parks and recreation system, and those conversations need to happen sooner, rather than later.
Therefore, based on initial findings from the staff/consultant working group and support from the community, including the Austin Parks Foundation, I propose that we as a Council explore a modest Parks Maintenance Fee as part of upcoming budget discussions. This could be a small, dedicated fee on utility bills, with all revenue going directly toward the maintenance and improvement of Austin’s parks system. It would help ensure that our parks remain clean, safe, and accessible for everyone, even as our population grows and costs rise.
As we consider this fee, I believe two guiding principles are essential:
- First, a Parks Maintenance Fee must be additive, not a substitute for existing funding. With aging infrastructure and equipment, newly built facilities coming online, and major land acquisitions in the pipeline, our parks operations and maintenance needs are growing, and so our parks funding must as well.
- Second, equity must remain at the center of implementation. A Parks Maintenance Fee that appears on monthly utility bills could exempt residents enrolled in a city-sponsored financial assistance program (e.g. CAP customers).
A Parks Maintenance Fee would provide a more equitable and sustainable funding stream, allowing us to enhance public natural spaces and expand recreational programming in all corners of town. It would allow us to preserve the parks we have and take care of the ones we’re building for future generations.
As Vice Chair of City Council’s Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee and a longtime parks advocate, I believe a Parks Maintenance Fee is a responsible, forward-looking solution. It won’t solve all of our city’s budget challenges, but it will protect something we all value—green spaces that bring us together, improve our health, and anchor our communities.
I invite you all to weigh in here, share your thoughts, and let me know if you’d like to work together on this topic. I look forward to continued discussions as we navigate the budget in the months ahead.
Best,
Paige
Colleagues,
As you know, we enter the 2025–2026 budget cycle facing difficult choices, due to the property tax revenue cap imposed by the State Legislature. Without new sources of funding – such as a Parks Maintenance Fee – we will have a challenging time maintaining the wide range of services our residents rely on every day, much less enhancing them.
Among those services, few are as beloved or widely used as our parks and recreation system. From neighborhood playgrounds to destination spaces like Zilker Park, from recreation centers to nature preserves, from pools and splash pads to community gardens and dog parks, from summer camps to senior activities, from athletics leagues to cemeteries, our parks and recreation system touches the life of every Austinite.
PARD’s programs and facilities bring connection to nature, connection to each other, joy, and health. They are vital to our city’s identity and quality of life. But maintaining them requires sustained, reliable funding, and it is clear that the status quo is not enough. Indeed, Austin’s ParkScore, a national comparison of park systems across the 100 most populated cities in the United States produced by the Trust for Public Land, dropped ten places from 44th to 55th in 2025; our Amenities subscore (think sports fields, restrooms, and rec centers) was the lowest, followed by our Equity subscore.
Fortunately, Council unanimously acknowledged the pressing need for new funding sources for PARD in November 2024, approving a resolution brought by MPT Pool (20241121-072) that assembled a working group of City staff and consultant expertise to make recommendations on this issue. We look forward to reviewing their final report, which was due on May 31st, as soon as possible.
However, we are now only three weeks away from the presentation of the City Manager’s proposed budget. I believe there will be strong support among us for increased investment in our parks and recreation system, and those conversations need to happen sooner, rather than later.
Therefore, based on initial findings from the staff/consultant working group and support from the community, including the Austin Parks Foundation, I propose that we as a Council explore a modest Parks Maintenance Fee as part of upcoming budget discussions. This could be a small, dedicated fee on utility bills, with all revenue going directly toward the maintenance and improvement of Austin’s parks system. It would help ensure that our parks remain clean, safe, and accessible for everyone, even as our population grows and costs rise.
As we consider this fee, I believe two guiding principles are essential:
- First, a Parks Maintenance Fee must be additive, not a substitute for existing funding. With aging infrastructure and equipment, newly built facilities coming online, and major land acquisitions in the pipeline, our parks operations and maintenance needs are growing, and so our parks funding must as well.
- Second, equity must remain at the center of implementation. A Parks Maintenance Fee that appears on monthly utility bills could exempt residents enrolled in a city-sponsored financial assistance program (e.g. CAP customers).
A Parks Maintenance Fee would provide a more equitable and sustainable funding stream, allowing us to enhance public natural spaces and expand recreational programming in all corners of town. It would allow us to preserve the parks we have and take care of the ones we’re building for future generations.
As Vice Chair of City Council’s Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee and a longtime parks advocate, I believe a Parks Maintenance Fee is a responsible, forward-looking solution. It won’t solve all of our city’s budget challenges, but it will protect something we all value—green spaces that bring us together, improve our health, and anchor our communities.
I invite you all to weigh in here, share your thoughts, and let me know if you’d like to work together on this topic. I look forward to continued discussions as we navigate the budget in the months ahead.
Best,
Paige