Page 79 - KCMO Parks Master Plan 2032

Annual Budget full-time equivalent figures.
Budget
OVERLAND PARK, KS $22,900,000.00

DES MOINES, IA $15,700,000.00 The examination of annual park system
budgets starts to solidify a few trends
BALTIMORE, MD $61,000,000.00
seen elsewhere in this benchmark
DALLAS, TX $106,800,000.00
comparison analysis. In terms of raw
CINCINNATI, OH $20,900,000.00 annual budget, KCMO again shows up
second to only Dallas. As seen before,
KANSAS CITY, MO $77,300,000.00
Kansas City has the second most park
$0.00 $40,000,000.00 $80,000,000.00 $120,000,000.00
acres, the second most trail miles, and
Figure 5.13: Annual park department budgets among nearly the second largest staff. If the
the 6 peer cities budget is normalized by park acres,
KCMO, with $7,361 per acre, is a close
third behind Overland Park ($7,789) and
Baltimore ($12,842). When the budget
Budget/Park Acre is normalized by population, Kansas City
jumps up to first place with $151.78 of park

OVERLAND PARK, KS $7,789.00 expenditures per resident. Overland
Park is second at $115.82 per resident.
DES MOINES, IA $3,764.00
This high dollar per capita figure should
BALTIMORE, MD $12,842.00
be viewed with the understanding that
DALLAS, TX $5,131.00 Kansas City has the least dense park
system in this study and the only system
CINCINNATI, OH $4,058.00
with a suite of cultural facilities. With the
KANSAS CITY, MO $7,361.00
blessing of providing more parkland and
$0.00 $2,000.00 $4,000.00 $6,000.00 $8,000.00 $10,000.00 $12,000.00 $14,000.00
cultural facilities per capita comes the
Figure 5.15: Annual budget per acre of parkland requirement for a higher budget.
Takeaways

What Kansas City needs to consider
is how to accomplish more and spend
Budget/Capita less with the land and human resources

it already has on hand. Residents have
OVERLAND PARK, KS $115.82
indicated they value the parkland the
DES MOINES, IA $74.40
city possesses, they just want to see
BALTIMORE, MD $107.03 it activated and safe. Opportunities to
expand the trail network exist within
DALLAS, TX $82.18
existing, but largely natural, parks both
CINCINNATI, OH $67.53
large and small. Partnerships with local
KANSAS CITY, MO $151.78 providers could be leveraged to activate
community centers and maximize the
$0.00 $20.00 $40.00 $60.00 $80.00 $100.00 $120.00 $140.00 $160.00
use of these 10 buildings without adding
Figure 5.15: Annual budget per capita
significant staff. Doing more with its park
wealth will be the name of the game.

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