Community Corner

County Exec Wants to Dump Park Costs on Cities

A day before budget talks open, Charlie Dooley suggested someone—anyone—pick up the tab for county parks. County parks cost $26 million annually.

Chief St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley expanded on his proposed budget cuts to county parks Monday, one day before 2012 budget talks begin among elected county leaders.

"Hopefully, we have opportunities to form some partnerships with the state or local municipalities or social welfare groups...A lot of our parks are in municipalities. They can take over those parks as well," Dooley told reporters during a separate event Monday at Bayless High School in South County.

Some of the county parks threatened with closure, however, are in unincorporated areas of St. Louis County and have no municipality or city government to fall back on.

Despite public criticism of the proposed park closures and an online petition that has now gathered over 2,400 signatures, Dooley defended his budget.

“The parks, their revenue is like $18.5 million. They have a budget of $26 million. There is a shortfall there. We have to make up the difference. We have to live within our budget," Dooley said.

“I’d like to see all the parks stay open. That’s the ultimate goal," Dooley said. "We are open to suggestions."

A public hearing about the budget cuts begins at 6:30 p.m. in Clayton at the County Council Tuesday meeting. Every public speaker will have 2-4 minutes at the microphone. County offices are 41 S. Central Avenue in Clayton.

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Comments may also be emailed to the county's administrative director at gfrank@stlouisco.com or called in to 314-615-5440.

Dooley was touring Bayless High School with a White House environmental adviser in connection with the president's American Jobs Act. The school is noted for being exceptionally energy efficient.

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