Princeton Park District approves 2022-2023 fiscal year budget

Board also discusses rising membership levels

The Princeton Park District Board on Monday, Jan. 4, made a decision to hold off on making upgrades to the Jacuzzi inside the Bureau County Metro Center due to current financial concerns. The issue that the Jacuzzi is not ADA compliant was recently brought to the board's attention by a patron.

The Princeton Park District held a public hearing for the 2022-2023 district budget was held prior to the Sept. 19 regular board meeting.

During the meeting, the budget and appropriation ordinance for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2023 was passed unanimously.

Executive Director Tammy Lange thanked the management team for all of their hard work, dedication and input in putting together this year’s budget.

“We cannot loosen our belts when it comes to the Park District finances,” Lange said. “We must remain diligent and responsible in our spending. We have a 33 year old building and equipment, parking lots that are in awful shape. We will keep working and applying for grants everywhere we can.”

The Metro Center is also continuing to save up for the replacement of the PoolPak Unit. This unit is required for the operation of the pool as the district is hoping it will hold on for another year or two. The repairs on the jacuzzi also are projected to be big ticket items.

Lange also touched on the district’s climb to return its membership to pre-pandemic levels.

“The challenges continue, we are not quite back to pre-Covid membership numbers,” Lange said. “However, we are up about 18% over a year ago. We want to grow and we are all doing more with less, whether that means finances or workers. The cost of everything is more and minimum wage goes up again in January.”

“We all feel it at work and in our personal lives. It is important to keep up the good quality of programming this district has always strived for. It is easy for us to feel overworked and sometimes overwhelmed. I will continue to make this team a priority and together we will all be successful.”

Moving forward, the April 2023 Park District Consolidated Election will have 3 seats up for re-election. The terms of Brandon Nyman and Abbie Cochran will be expiring and the appointment of Les Youngren to the unexpired term of Chris Blanford will also be open.

Commissioner Packets are available for any interested candidate at the front desk of the Bureau County Metro Center.

“It is our hope that the current board members will run again for the open seats,” Lange said. “All of them have made great contributions to this board and we would look forward to continuing those good works.”

The next meeting of the Princeton Park District will be held at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 17 at the Bureau County Metro Center.