How the Penny Keeps Pensacola Parks in Play
A recent event at Dunwoody Park showed residents how the penny keeps Pensacola's parks and recreation facilities in play, from neighborhood playgrounds to the fire trucks that serve them.
For a municipality that covers only 22 square miles, Pensacola maintains a remarkable number of public parks.
These facilities include 58 playgrounds, 21 sports fields, 25 outdoor basketball courts, swimming pools, several indoor community centers, the Roger Scott Tennis Center, the Vickery Center and the Osceola Golf Course.
Each of these many indoor and outdoor facilities requires constant upkeep, periodic equipment repair and replacement and, in some cases, costly new building construction and extensive renovations.
While these many indoor and outdoor facilities are all unique, they share one thing in common: they are heavily dependent on Local Option Sales Tax revenues
A good example of the positive impact the 1-cent sales tax has on the city's Parks and Recreation Department was on display at a recent event in Dunwoody Park (a.k.a. Cowboy Park).
Hosted by Mayor D.C. Reeves and District 4 Councilman Jared Moore, some 100 Cordova Park residents turned out to view two proposals for refurbishing the existing 20-year-old playground equipment at the popular site.
"LOST dollars have a huge positive impact on our department. Our general fund budget can only go so far," says Parks and Recreation Department Director Tonya Byrd. "Local Option Sales Tax dollars are absolutely critical to our ability to be able to do new projects like installing new playground equipment. Otherwise, without LOST dollars, we would probably be forced to eventually remove this park's playground equipment and not replace it."
Councilman Moore says what the city is able to do at Dunwoody Park is "an absolutely great of example" of the amenities and benefits the city derives from LOST dollars.
"This Cordova Park neighborhood has three parks it maintains that are within a quarter mile of nearly every resident and a lot of those amenities are funded through LOST revenues."
"Local Option Sales Tax dollars are absolutely critical to our ability to be able to do new projects like installing new playground equipment."
— Tonya Byrd, Parks and Recreation Director
Cordova Park resident Brian Cole, a declared candidate for the District 4 seat being vacated by Moore, is an enthusiastic supporter of the 1-cent tax.
"I used to be a volunteer firefighter for the county and at that time I often rode on a fire truck that was paid for with LOST dollars," says Cole. "I am a huge proponent of the LOST tax dollars. It's a great program and I will be voting for the renewal of it this November."
As if to highlight LOST's impact during the Dunwoody Park event, a gleaming red firetruck arrived from its Summitt Boulevard station to the delight of the many children and adults in attendance.
Both the firetruck and the fire station, Cole notes, were paid for in large part by LOST dollars.
For more information about the Dunwoody Park playground updates and to vote on your favorite new design, visit the City of Pensacola site here.
