Down for the Count : Cities’ Financial Problems Force Cuts in Summer Youth Sports Programs

Recreation officials in Ventura County say budget cutbacks have eroded the ability of communities to provide summer sports programs at a time when they are in peak demand.

In Oxnard, recreation officials have cut sports teams, eliminated swimming and boxing programs and asked private organizations to step in to run them.

Ventura recreation officials preserved swimming classes at Buena High School, but no longer will allow swimmers to use the high school’s pool for recreational swimming.

And in Thousand Oaks, officials of the area’s Recreation and Park District have cut pool hours at Newbury and Thousand Oaks high schools in half.

Cities are still running summer camps that charge fees, but officials have reduced hours at community centers and gyms where free activities for youths are held.

“That doesn’t even figure in what’s going on with the state right now,” said Grace Hoffman, management and budget officer for Oxnard.

In an attempt to narrow a nearly $11-billion budget deficit, state lawmakers are considering shifting property taxes and other revenues away from cities. Oxnard is the hardest hit because of its dependence on its General Fund for recreation services.

Because of continuing fiscal problems, funding for recreational and park programs in Oxnard dropped from $7.3 million two years ago to an estimated $6 million this year.

Last year, Oxnard officials closed bathrooms at public parks to save money. And this month the city plans to dismantle its Parks and Recreation Department.

That move would eliminate the parks director’s position and reassign other employees to the Public Works and Community Services departments, Hoffman said. Most existing programs that haven’t already been cut will continue at least for the immediate future, she said.

The city’s fiscal problems translate into fewer activities for youths.

Oxnard’s recreation superintendent, Karen Burnham, said youth participation in city-sponsored sports teams has declined because the city has hired fewer coaches to manage basketball, baseball, football, volleyball and track-and-field teams.

The number of times that youths participated in sports and recreational events dropped from 171,000 two years ago to 51,000 in the last fiscal year that ended in June.

Even cities that have not reduced recreational services are trimming the fat.

Fillmore revived a swim program that was eliminated two years ago. But to keep within the $6,000 budget, the city has locked pool dressing rooms to reduce maintenance costs and lifeguards double as cashiers, Recreation Director Bob Buckles said.

In Ojai, City Manager Andrew Belknap said the city decided to reduce recreational activities at the Boyd Community Center two nights a week to save $40,000.

The center had operated free drop-in activities, such as volleyball and Ping-Pong, for teen-agers on those nights, Belknap said.

Special park districts throughout the county also are feeling the pinch. In Thousand Oaks, the Conejo Recreation and Park District will trim operating hours at its three community centers to shave $150,000 of its $3-million recreation budget.

Although swim classes were left intact, two community pools have cut recreational-swimming hours in half, said Jesse Washington, a recreational administrator for the Conejo Recreation and Park District.

Last year, community pools at Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks high schools were open daily. Each pool is open only three afternoons a week now, and nighttime swimming has been eliminated.

The loss of swimming pool hours has angered parents such as Michael Pollay, 40, of Newbury Park, whose 6-year-old daughter has been unable to swim.

Pollay said he is circulating a petition that asks the Conejo district to restore the hours at both pools. “Thousand Oaks is known for its easy access to recreational activity,” he said. Now, he added, “they’ve turned away people when they met their maximum (capacity). Most days, the pools are so overcrowded the latecomers can’t even get in.”

On a recent day, parent Robin Broms, 34, fought her way through the crowded poolside at Thousand Oaks High School with her six children.

Broms says it isn’t fair to cut programs for children. She believes that it is dangerous to cut hours because the pools become too crowded for lifeguards to watch.

“Last week, there were so many people you just had to find a place and wedge yourself into a spot,” she said. “I have this 3-year-old who can’t swim, and she could easily get lost.”

Because of the crowding, a pool manager said he has increased the number of lifeguards from seven to eight.

Recreation officials say they can’t afford to run programs that lose money year after year, and that is why they have targeted high-cost services such as swimming pools.

The pools in Thousand Oaks cost about $97,000 to run annually, and the district loses about $20,000 each year, said Washington of the Conejo Recreation and Park District.

“Swimming pools don’t pay for themselves,” he said. “Most communities that operate pools are not operating it at a gain.”

Ventura’s recreational swim program was a casualty of the city’s attempt to shave about $200,000 off a $3-million recreation budget.

The city also proposed eliminating a $7,000 Saturday-night youth program, but came up with the money at the last minute, Recreation Director Barbara Harrison said.

These days, the city is relying on service organizations to take over programs once subsidized by the city. “More and more it’s going to be a combination of public and private support,” Harrison said. “We won’t be able to do it with city resources.”

In Oxnard, private organizations have stepped into the vacuum.

The Hueneme Swim Assn. and the Channel Islands Swim Assn. in January agreed to take over the city’s swimming instruction and offer classes at Hueneme and Oxnard high schools.

Renee and Jeff Conrad, members of the Channel Islands Aquatics Assn., helped create a for-profit arm to operate daily swim classes.

Renee Conrad said she and other parents stepped in because “if (the city) doesn’t provide adequate recreation for children, they’re going to have more children on the streets with nothing to do.”

But Oxnard’s La Colonia pool, which was closed two years ago, has remained shut because the city failed to find a sponsor.

Even Conrad said she does not know how long her group can continue offering the classes at Oxnard High School. The pool is closed to people who aren’t taking the $30 classes.

“We have kids come in every single day asking when we’re going to open the pool for recreational swimming,” she said. “And they’re upset when we tell them, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ ”

One place that youths have turned to is the Oxnard Boys & Girls Club on 7th Street.

Director Abe Olivares said he has seen membership increase from 500 last year to 700 this year. He believes the jump is a result of the city’s cuts.

Last year, the club sponsored only 20 basketball teams. But with the increased demand, this year there are 34, all coached by volunteers.

In January, the club assumed operation of the La Colonia Boxing Club from the city of Oxnard along with $12,000 of the remaining funds.

However, Olivares said he does not know how long his club can afford to operate the boxing club.

This year, the Oxnard Boys & Girls Club’s United Way donation was cut by about $35,000 to $98,000, and it has not been able to find another corporate or community sponsor to take its place.

“With the times the way they are, more and more nonprofits are standing in the same donation lines, and those lines are getting longer and longer,” Olivares said. “It’s getting tough out there.”