County Parks Thrive on Harbor’s Cash Flow : Budgets: The revenue is so great that some officials want to raid the funds to help beleaguered agencies.

While most county agencies brace for budget cuts, the Ventura County parks department is so well off that its officials have ambitious expansion plans that include building a giant water slide, a 27-hole golf course and an amphitheater.

The secret of its financial success is that the parks department nets $2 million a year in rental income from restaurants, marinas and shopping centers at the county-owned Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard.

The stream of revenue is so steady that county officials are considering a raid on the parks department’s self-sustaining budget to help bail out other county agencies.

It’s an idea that sits poorly with some county officials, who say dipping into the parks budget would cut into one of the county’s financial success stories.

“It would force us to look differently at the development of new parks,” said Blake Boyle, deputy director of the county’s General Services Agency, which oversees county parks and recreation.

Ventura County runs the only county parks department in the nation that operates completely independently of county tax dollars, according to a nationwide survey conducted five years ago. County officials believe nothing has changed since the survey.

The idea of funding the parks department with money from the harbor evolved shortly after voters approved Proposition 13 in 1978.

Realizing that parks would probably lose in the tussle for scarce tax dollars, county officials formed a separate fund--known as the enterprise fund--to collect money generated by rents at the harbor and fees from county parks.

Since then, the county’s enterprise fund has caught the attention of parks officials nationwide.

In March, the enterprise fund was featured in an article in a nationwide newsletter distributed to parks officials. Since the article appeared, almost 20 intrigued officials at parks departments nationwide have called to ask about the enterprise fund.

“I think it’s a very good system because it gets them away from depending on the tax dollar,” said Mike Pahos, director of the Santa Barbara County Parks Department.

This year alone, Pahos said, budget cuts have trimmed $338,000 from his $5-million budget. Although Santa Barbara County has not closed any parks, he said it has lost seven positions and virtually eliminated its budget to improve its parks facilities. “Santa Barbara’s parks system is dying,” he said.

He said he would like to reproduce Ventura County’s enterprise fund but cannot because the harbor in Santa Barbara is owned by the city and not the county.

Bob Addison, parks director for Kern County, said he applauds Ventura County for finding a way to keep its parks going strong. “I wish we had a harbor,” he said. “That would be a pretty good trick in Bakersfield.”

Addison said budget cuts have forced him to do without extra summer maintenance workers this year. “When it comes to parks they are pretty low on the totem pole.”

For county parks officials, the enterprise fund has meant relinquishing any future support from tax dollars. But it has also allowed the department to run its program like a business, expanding with revenues generated from the harbor and other ventures.

The business-incentive approach has encouraged county parks officials to make expansion plans such as a man-made lake and an amphitheater at College Park in Oxnard and a 27-hole golf course and hotel near Moorpark. All of these ventures would be leased to private companies for a fee.

“The enterprise fund sets us up as a private enterprise,” Boyle said. “We live on the revenues that we generate.”

The county spends about $2 million annually to maintain and operate county parks, while park fees and camping permits generate only about $1 million each year, Boyle said.

In contrast, the harbor generates about $3 million annually from fees and lease agreements while the county spends about $1 million each year for maintenance and operating costs, he said.

At College Park in Oxnard, county parks officials hope to complete a 2,500-seat amphitheater for concerts and plays by the summer of 1992. Within five years, the county plans to build a man-made lake and lease land near the lake for a restaurant, a shopping center and a softball complex.

At Happy Camp, a 3,700-acre wilderness park north of Moorpark, county officials are reviewing plans by a developer who wants to build a 700-acre project that would include a hotel, a 27-hole golf course and a giant water slide. If all goes as planned, the multimillion-dollar project will be completed by 1995, said Parks Manager Andy Oshita.

“I think it will be something that will attract people to Ventura County,” he said.

The county also has plans for a regional park in Camarillo that would include a campground, a picnic area and an equestrian center. The project, however, has been put on hold since voters recently rejected a state bond measure that would have helped pay for the park, Oshita said.

County parks officials have also turned several campgrounds and two county-owned golf courses into moneymakers by leasing the parks to private companies.

“When we lease we have virtually turned them from cost centers to revenue centers,” Boyle said.

While many of the proposed projects, such as the regional park, will be funded with a combination of state and local money, Oshita said the harbor provides enough for salaries and administrative costs of the parks department.

He said parks officials are extremely grateful for the harbor, which he describes as “the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

The Channel Islands Harbor, 310 acres of water and land located in Oxnard, includes nine marinas, four apartment complexes, a resort hotel, three yacht clubs, 13 restaurants, three waterfront shopping centers and four public parks. All pay fees to the county.

Richard Wittenberg, the county’s chief administrative officer, said he has asked all county department heads to draft plans on ways to cut 5% and 10% from their budgets to help offset a $16-million deficit predicted for next year.

While the parks and harbor have been financially independent from the rest of the county government for 12 years, Wittenberg said the Board of Supervisors will this fall consider tapping into the enterprise fund to help boost the general fund.

“There is a question of whether the enterprise fund should be included in the 5% and 10% cuts,” he said. “There are arguments on both sides. . . . But it will be up to the board to decide.”