BREAKING: Troy Looking to Borrow $14 Million for Park Improvements

$10 Million in improvements to Troy Aquatic Park on tap

This publication has learned that the city’s Top Bureaucrat has had either individual or small group meetings with various members of Troy City Council to discuss a rough proposal for an initiative to provide over $15 Million in park improvements, $14 Million of which is expected to be borrowed. This publication received the draft listing of projects from someone close to the plan.

The highlight of the plan is a roughly $10 Million investment into improvements to be made to the Troy Aquatic Park, which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary next year. The rehab/expansion project is based on part of a draft assessment and feasibility study on the facility, that has yet to be publicly released.

Other planned projects that are expected to cost over $1 Million through this initiative include $1.7 Million for a new Park Maintenance Building and $1.125 Million for the replacement of 13 play sets at different parks and playground around the community.

The plan also includes new playground equipment at Duke Park and Community Park, as well as new restrooms at the Joe Reardon Skatepark, demolition of the bleachers at the North Market Street ball field and repaving and extending of the Recreational Trail System in town.

The city is not asking for a taxpayer supported tax levy to support these improvements, nor is the city looking to use cash on hand, the city is looking to issue bonds to borrow upwards of $14 million.

According to state law, the City Council can issue bonds up to 5.5% of the property assessed value of the entire community, without the approval of voters. According to the last Consolidated Annual Financial Report from the City, the City Council could bond up to $38 Million for improvements without going to the ballot box.

We’ve Been Here Before

Troy leaders have had a hard time convincing voters to approve recreational initiatives at the ballot box, In 2017, voters rejected by a 63% to 37% margin, a 10-year property tax levy. In that levy, the proceeds of $2.5 million a year would have been earmarked for new baseball and soccer fields and other improvements at Paul G. Duke Park, improvements at the city golf course and seniors center and a second sheet of ice near Hobart Arena. In 2019, voters rejected an even more pared-down property tax request to focus solely on putting more athletic fields at Duke Park, along with a splash pad and a miniature golf course at the park.

This time, the City Administration is looking to bypass voters all together and legally issue bonds for park improvements, that frankly, haven’t been on the public’s radar.

Open Questions Remain

As one looks at the list of priorities on this list, there are open questions as to why these particular projects are determined to be done at this time. These projects certainly don’t seem to line up with the desires of the community, especially considering the fact that consultants in the recent update to the City’s Comprehensive Plan asked residents about certain park and recreations amenities that residents wanted.

In their work on the plan, the consultants from American Structurepoint asked residents during last Summer’s Strawberry Festival what kind of amenities they wanted to see in town — a splash pad was a clear winner.

In fact, the splash pad and other amenities were highlighted by park users in an assessment completed by the city’s Park Department released in 2019.

When a local government goes to the trouble of asking public input on what amenities are desired by the community and then goes to the trouble to not listen to those comments when developing a multi-million dollar plan to provide those services to residents, it makes one wonder what are the motives at play?

Some Serious Concerns

When Operation Recreation 2020 was decided by voters, one of the items on the wishlist were improvements to the clubhouse at the city owned Miami Shores Golf Course. At their first meeting coming off the defeat of the measure in 2017, City Council went ahead and hired an architect to re-design the clubhouse, which effectively became building a new facility.

Voters had just voted down the measure to invest into the clubhouse, but the city, in their wisdom, believed that the clubhouse was such a necessary improvement that it commenced work on it right after the defeat. Observers would be hard-pressed to see if any of the other Operational Recreation 2020 initiatives have been worked on, other than marginal improvements to the Senior Citizen’s Center.

The appearance is that when it comes to recreation, the city is only interested in investing in those things that can strengthen the bottom line. That appearance was first started in 207 with the Golf Course, and it continues here in 2024 with the Troy Aquatic Park; the city only makes heavy investments in those things that generate revenue. If the recent Park Nine improvements in Downtown Piqua were to happen in Troy, the City would probably find a way to charge at least a dollar from every man, woman and child who dipped their toe in the splash pad.

The second concern is that this community’s leadership has a bad habit of bringing projects together into one major initiative. The community largely ended up with the Treasure Island Bandstand only because it was lumped with the needed improvements at Hobart Arena. Operation Recreation 2020 and the 2019 Recreational Tax Levy both involved multiple items that were loosely brought together.

Proper Planning is the Key

Just this week, the City’s Planning Commission adopted the updated Comprehensive Plan. In that plan, buried in one of the Critical Path Strategies, was the recommendation for the City to “Develop a Five-Year Parks and Rec Master Plan to Help Procure Grant Funding”. Through that process, the city can adequately review what our recreational offerings have and what are needed, and efforts can be made to involve the public in these decision-making processes. Outside groups such as those working on the Skatepark or those developing the thriving pickleball scene or with our youth sports leagues or those advocating for a simple splashpad can be consulted on what their needs are for now and in the future.

If the City is willing to invest $14 Million into our parks and recreational facilities, that is a good thing. However, a much better result can be had when citizens believe that the recreational needs of the community of the whole community are being met and the city is not simply pouring money into another capital asset.

Productive outcomes are only accomplished when the bureaucrats in City Hall actually engage residents and various stakeholders on what necessary improvements are needed to our park and recreation system. Through its past behavior, This city has shown it has a hard time working with residents on important initiatives. Perhaps this time will be different, but there is plenty of room for doubt.

(Disclosure: The author is a board member of Troy City Skatepark Unite, Inc., an organization actively working to create enhancements at the Joe Reardon Skate Park.)

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