20 | 2024 National Recreation and Park Association BUDGET The typical goal of annual operating expenditures, such as personnel services, contracts, commodities and supplies, and capital outlay, is to balance the needs of the community with the fiscal capabilities of the governing body (i.e., city, county). Each park and recreation agency must be aware of its annual operating expenditures in order to continue to provide the vital programs and services expected of parks and recreation in its community. To offer a better understanding of annual operating expenditures — and, in turn, a clearer view of budgeting and spending across agencies — the data are presented by jurisdiction population, as well as per capita, per acre of park and non-park sites, and per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee and by other operation expenditure distributions. The median annual operating expenditure for park and recreation agencies is nearly $6.5 million. That amount increases as population increases. Smaller agencies serving fewer than 20,000 people have median operating expenditures of about $1.5 million, while agencies in jurisdictions of more than 250,000 people have annual operating expenditures of $32.7 million. Agencies serving populations between these two groups have operating expenditures that range from $3.5 million annually (20,000 to 49,999 people) and $7.7 million annually (50,000 to 99,999 people) to $13.5 million annually (100,000 to 250,000 people). FIGURE 14: ANNUAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES (BY JURISDICTION POPULATION) All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 Median $6,453,357 $1,451,763 $3,462,654 $7,710,075 $13,552,112 $32,700,000 Lower Quartile $2,295,873 $707,145 $2,003,128 $5,348,266 $6,800,000 $15,091,825 Upper Quartile $16,247,943 $3,004,473 $7,853,006 $13,394,323 $23,399,020 $59,286,392 All Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 $35,000,000 $30,000,000 $25,000,000 $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 ANNUAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES People participate in a game of ice hockey in Illinois. PHOTO COURTESY OF PEKIN (ILLINOIS) PARK DISTRICT
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