Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Governance of the Essex Junction Recreation and Parks Department
Q: Who currently governs the Rec Department?
A: The Essex Junction Prudential Committee. In 1971, the Rec Department’s governance and oversight shifted from municipal to school at the request of the Village Trustees and upon the agreement of the School District.
Q: But I thought the parks were village (municipal) property?
A: The Village owns the land (Maple Street, Cascade and Steven's Park). The school district operates, maintains, and administers Maple Street, Cascade, and Stevens Park, their facilities, and associated recreation programs. Ultimately, the taxpayers of the Village own it all.
Q: Isn’t a recreation department usually managed by the municipal government?
A: Typically recreation departments are municipally run. The Village is unique in terms of having recreation managed by the schools, but not alone. Montpelier’s Recreation Department is located in and administered by the school district. Other VT towns have created different structures to manage recreation and parks. Most school districts are not “Incorporated School Districts,” like the Essex Junction School District (EJSD) and therefore, under VT law, do not have this unique taxing authority. This status has enabled the district to govern the Recreation Department.
Q: What’s up with the citizen petition recently provided to the Prudential Committee?
A: Representatives of the petition movement made nine assertions, which over 300 people have signed. Some of the petition leaders remarked the petition was spawned as a result of the proposed, and subsequently canceled, plan to convert a baseball field to a multipurpose field.
Q: Is there a formal arrangement between the village and school districtconcerning the Recreation Department?
A: The Prudential Committee decided to arrange a formalized relationship in the late 1990’s What emerged is an Agreement between the parties, one that comes up ona regular renewal cycle. Currently, it is extended for the current fiscal year ending in June, 2011.
Q: Why change now?
A: A group of citizens has requested a transfer of governance.
Q: So, is the Prudential Committee against turning over governance?
A: The Prudential Committee has not drawn a conclusion. There are pros and cons that deserve proper public discourse, to be managed through meaningful processes. The Prudential Committee has requested that its citizen advisory committee, the Essex Junction Recreation and Parks Advisory Council, engage the community in this governance question.
Q: Why does the Recreation Department pay an assessment to the Chittenden Central Supervisory Union (CCSU) and would taxpayers save that amount of money if the department were run by the Village?
A:
Currently:
Using a shared service model, CCSU charges each of its three member school districts (Westford, U46, and Essex Junction) for central operating costs (i.e. the salaries, supplies, and equipment for the superintendent, IT, HR, finance, etc.) proportional to the size of the district and demands placed on central services.
Essex Junction School District, as a member of CCSU, is assessed a portion of those costs.
To pay the assessment, Essex Junction School District charges each of its five units (Hiawatha, Summit, Fleming, ADL, and EJRP) proportional to the size of the unit and demands placed on central services.
Since EJRP receives support from payroll, finance, HR, legal services, IT, maintenance, and more, EJRP is assessed a share.
Under a Governance Change:
The majority of CCSU’s central operating costs would remain the same even without EJRP. For example the CCSU employees who work in HR, finance, legal, IT, superintendents office, etc. would continue to be employed full time, as EJRP represents just a fraction of their work.
CCSU may have a small decrease in their central operating costs, which would then be apportioned out to the three districts.
Essex Junction School District’s portion of central service costs would be slightly reduced due to the fact that the size of the district and demand on services would decrease modestly without rec.
The Essex Junction School District would charge each of its four units proportionally for the assessment. With fewer units to share the costs with, Hiawatha, Summit, Fleming, and ADL would have higher assessments to make upfor the lost contribution from rec.
So, while EJRP would no longer contribute $83K, Essex Junction schools would have to make up the difference and would have larger assessments to pay the District’s contribution to CCSU.
Additionally, it is unknown what the cost of transferring and administering EJRP would be under Village governance. A new administrative structure would have to abe created, developed, and implemented in order to support and operate EJRP.