By Carol Ann Gregg

Allied News Staff Writer



Like everyone else, the Slippery Rock Park and Recreation Board is struggling with increased costs and decreased revenues.

Following the auditor’s report and recommendations, the board will implement fee increases in 2010.

“It has been several years since we have increased the fees for any of our programs,” said Mary Messer, executive director of Slippery Rock Park and Recreation. “We are also going to implement a two-tiered pricing system similar to what was suggested in the proposed Northwest Butler County Regional Park and Recreation Plan.”

Tier one will be the base fee that anyone within the Slippery Rock Area School District will pay. That will be raised beginning in January.

Tier two will be the basic fee plus a 20 percent additional fee for people living outside the school district.

“We never turn people away,” Messer said. Many kinds of programs are available, and they change as people’s interests change.

Some of the core programs include Playsafe, which is a before- and after-school day care program at the three elementary schools in the district. A pre-school program meets in the recreation center in Slippery Rock Community Park. Recreational sports teams include baseball, softball, soccer, football and basketball.

“Our target market is the children,” Messer said. “Our hardest market to reach is the teens.”

Messer said that while kids are in grade school they participate in recreational sports through the park and recreation programs, and the more talented athletes go on to participate in sports. “We haven’t found programs that attract this age group,” she said.

Park and recreation is responsible for the school plays at the high school and the students do participate in that, she said.

The programs wouldn’t be available if it wasn’t for 20 to 30 part-time employees and the many volunteers who help.

The park offers many other things. For example, the Butler County Master Gardeners have installed and maintain a flower garden that will attract pollinators. Over the winter, the garden provides shelter for wildlife and seeds on some of the plants attract birds to the garden.

Beside the flower garden, a plot has been stacked out, tilled and mulched for a vegetable garden that will be planted in the spring. Mary Ann Maher, Slippery Rock, is in charge of that project. She anticipates giving the produce from the garden to the local food pantry, Feed My Sheep, that is located in the park.

Maher plans to consider what things children will eat before planting the garden. The plot is just a small space to start, to see how it goes the first year, Maher said.

At the last park and recreation board meeting, the 2010 budget of $305,000 was passed. The bulk of the budget is funded by annual contributions of $25,000 from Slippery Rock Borough, $20,000 from Slippery Rock Township and $20,000 from Slippery Rock Area School District. The rest of the funds come from program fees and donations, Messer said. “Businesses and organizations contribute in several ways over the year.”

The budget will be presented to the three funding bodies for their approval. Each of these entities has three members on the park and recreation board, one of whom has to be a member of the board they represent. Their terms are for three years.

The park and recreation board also seeks funding for capital improvements by applying for grants through the county and the state.

Also, at that meeting, the board acknowledged a letter they received from borough council requesting that the park and recreation board not ask the Slippery Rock Community Library to pay rent for use of its facility, located within the park.

“After getting the letter, it was decided to ask the library for help with utilities,” Messer said.

“The library provides a great service to the community,” she added.



Story was published in Allied News on Nov. 25, 2009. Pick up a copy at 201A Erie St., Grove City.