Rye Town Park Opens With Eye on Red Ink

Rye Town Park had its soft seasonal opening this past weekend, and local officials are hoping that this is the year the park can hopefully turn a profit.

Though the park took in around $900,000 last season, it ran a more than $140,000 deficit even after officials implemented differential parking prices to raise revenue.

However, the Rye Town Park Commission, which includes Rye Brook Mayor Joan Feinstein, Rye Mayor Doug French and Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla, among others, are hoping that more changes can improve the park’s financial position.

Automated parking could be implemented at Rye Town Park this year. Automation could cost between $100,000-$200,000, and officials have said it will hopefully pay for itself within the next two years based on the parking revenue it brings in.

The Commission also is working to make sure business procedures are streamlined, and its is enlisting the help of community volunteers to improve the park. The Commission also is scrutinizing what Benedict Salanitro, one of its members, calls “50 years of neglect” that has necessitated a “$14 million wish list” of necessary repairs and renovations.

The multi-million wish list is just one of many issues local officials have to tackle in regards to the park.

Problems came to a head several months ago when a projected annual deficit of around $40,000 in September swelled to more than $140,000 by December during the three months when the park was basically closed.

That amount included more than $50,000 in unemployment insurance. French maintained that kind of last minute “surprise” made balancing a budget unpredictable, and he and Joe Sack, a Rye City Council and Rye Town Park Commission member, insisted that kind of inaccurate financial forecasting had to be addressed before they would vote on the $1 million-plus budget for the upcoming season.

That, in turn, has led to a closer look at the park’s business model, with citizen input helping to influence how the Commission addresses the automation bidding process as well as what French calls “legacies.”

“We’ve made the park more green; we’ve reduced parking congestion; we’ve introduced differential pricing in favor of area residents over non-residents and now we’ve got to take a long hard look at the business model, including automation,” Rye Town Supervisor Joseph Carvin said at a recent meeting.

The Commission has discussed in detail the benefits of automation, including making it easier for visitors to enter and leave the park, utilizing technology to reduce cash slippage and ruling out any last minute financial surprises in the form of cost overruns.

The Commission already has issued a Request for Proposals to more than 200 automation and technological companies across the county. CORE Cashless initially emerged as the winner with a preliminary bid that would cost around $19,000 for implementation this season. However, the Commission decided that a re-bidding process would be necessary because the initial CORE Cashless proposal would require at least an additional $100,000 next season.

The Commission will take a complete look at all automation costs by May 13, which would allow for installation by Labor Day.

In terms of the park’s finances, Rye Citizens Finance Committee member Paula Schaefer has suggested several streamlined accounting procedures such as regular monthly financial reports, which would be available to the Commission on a regular basis. That would help do away with unpleasant surprises like the recent deficit and the unexpected $53,000 in unemployment insurance, Schaefer said. She also suggested looking into the park’s 5-percent interest borrowing rate because lower rates were readily available. 

As another cost-savings measure, French has suggested changing contract terminology so that the park’s workers would be seasonal employees, eliminating the need for heavy unemployment insurance payouts. He also has called for a cost-control subcommittee, which the Commission has endorsed.

The Commission will next meet on April 26 at Rye Town Hall to discuss all these issues and vote on the park’s 2011 budget.