With the City of Fresno’s budget finalized last month, the allocation of funds generated by the city’s 30-year, three-quarter cent sales tax aimed at improving and building the more parks facilities.
On Monday, Fresno’s Parks, Recreation, and Arts Commission reviewed the breakdown of Measure P dollars in the budget.
Initial projections allocated $29.5 million in tax revenue for six Measure P categories. However, the city only appropriated $22.1 million in the adopted budget, leaving a remaining revenue of $7.4 million – 25.03 percent – that is not allocated.
That money, though, may not materialize if the revenue projections turn out to be inaccurate.
The choice by the city to not fund the total allocation has affected the Measure P Arts and Culture fund the most.
Initially, the Arts and Culture fund received a 12 percent allotment, which totaled $3.5 million in revenue. But the city did not appropriate any money in the budget for that fund.
The other five funds were all partly funded.
The Measure P New Parks and Facilities fund came closest to being fully funded. It had a $6,358,200 allocation and received a budget appropriation of $6,345,600, leaving just $12,600 on the table.
With a $13.6 million allocation, the Measure P Existing Parks fund took up 46 percent of the projected revenue. The city appropriated $11.7 million in the budget to the fund.
The fund for trails, Beautify Fresno and the San Joaquin River Conservancy had a $3.3 million allocation but received $1.9 million in the budget.
The youth, senior and job training fund totaled a $2.5 million allocation, but the budget knocked off $0.5 million to appropriate $1.9 million.
With a $57,800 appropriation, the program implementation fund was the smallest total. It had been set to receive a $221,800 allocation.
