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The Santa Clara County board of supervisors has approved the placement of the Park Charter Renewal Fund measure on the 2006 ballot that will address how park funds are dispersed. However, the exact wording of the measure has yet to be addressed.
The current park charter mandates that nearly 11Ž2 cents per every $100 derived from property taxes be allocated to the county parks and recreation department for maintenance, operations and acquisition.
Of those funds, 20 percent is used for the acquisition of new parks within the county while the remaining 80 percent funds operations of existing parks.
The Yes On Parks committee, an advisory committee to the county, has recommended a change in the percentage amount of the allocations, said Kitty Monahan, a member of the committee and a New Almaden resident.
The committee has recommended that the board vote to have the ballot measure allocate 80 percent of the funds to operations, 15 percent to acquisitions and 5 percent to park developments.
Lisa Killough, department director for the county Department of Parks and Recreation, said development money, if approved, would go toward creating picnic areas or camping areas in new parks. She said the money could also be used to renovate facilities at existing parks.
The recommendation from the committee does not propose to change the total amount of funds the parks gets, nor does it propose a change in the amount that residents pay in taxes.
Killough said the board would vote on the proper wording for the measure within the next couple of months.
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