2024 NRPA Agency Performance Review | 21 The median operating expenditures decrease as population increases. The typical agency has operating expenditures of $99.47 per capita. For agencies serving populations of fewer than 20,000 people, the median is $135.53 per capita. This figure declines to $120.72 per capita for agencies serving populations of 50,000 to 99,999 people, and declines further to $57.61 per capita for those agencies serving more than 250,000 people. To further quantify the annual operating expenditures of park and recreation agencies, one can examine operating expenditures per acre of park and non-park sites. It is important to note that non-park sites refer to public areas and facilities, such as city halls and lawns, that are not considered parks but are maintained by agencies using a percentage of their annual operating budget. The typical park and recreation agency spends $8,260 of its annual operating budget per acre of park and non-park sites. The larger the population served, the lower operating expenditures are per acre. Park and recreation agencies serving populations of fewer than 250,000 residents have similar per-acre operating expenditures ranging between $8,000 to $9,800 per acre of park and non-park sites. This figure declines to a median of $4,421 per acre for those agencies in jurisdictions of more than a quarter of a million people. Full-time equivalent (FTE) employees are critical to daily park operations, and therefore must be factored into the annual operating budget of each agency. The median operating expenditure per FTE employee is $110,912. At agencies serving fewer than 20,000 people, the operating budget per FTE employee is $101,304. At agencies serving 20,000 to 49,999 people, this amount increases to $112,366 per FTE employee. At agencies serving 50,000 to 99,999 people, the amount decreases to $106,642 per FTE employee. For agencies serving larger populations of 100,000 to 250,000 people, the median operating expenditure per FTE employee is $119,116, and for agencies serving more than 250,000 people in their jurisdiction, the median operating expenditure per FTE employee is $116,836. $160 $140 $120 $100 $80 $60 $40 $20 $0 OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA FIGURE 15: OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA (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 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 $99.47 $135.53 $114.81 $120.72 $87.10 $57.61 Lower Quartile $53.44 $74.22 $62.32 $74.14 $39.69 $24.47 Upper Quartile $183.96 $263.21 $226.13 $196.53 $160.76 $97.91 $12,000 $10,000 $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 0 OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER ACRE OF PARK AND NON-PARK SITES FIGURE 16: OPERATING EXPENDITURES PER ACRE OF PARK AND NON-PARK SITES (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 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 $8,260 $9,777 $9,013 $9,176 $8,002 $4,421 Lower Quartile $3,564 $3,856 $4,383 $5,633 $3,066 $2,046 Upper Quartile $18,491 $27,711 $20,346 $18,636 $15,009 $10,609
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