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There are standards for fertilizing, the amount of trees we expect to see in every park, and amount of canopy covers that we work to maintain. We have Rum Village, a nature conservatory in the middle of our City. Not many other Cities can boast that. Sometimes parks are viewed as extra - curricular, but there is a case to be made for the impact green space and recreational amenities have on the economics of the City. The total acreage per 1,000 people in South Bend is 11.95. The national average is well below that. Best practice is about ten (10) acres per 1,000 residents. We're doing pretty well in terms of the amount of park space we actually have. We are resource rich in terms of the number of golf courses, the quality of our zoo, the minor league baseball stadium, the ice skating rink, those types of amenities aren't always seen in a City of our size. We have fifty -nine (59) playgrounds, which is above national standards, which is about forty - eight (48). That doesn't even count the school playgrounds. We have great partnerships with the schools and share responsibility as far as maintenance goes. There are close to 1,000 different offerings happening this season. We also have programs such as forestry, central mowing and code mowing. There are eighty -nine (89) full time staff members, twenty -five (25) permanent part time staff members. This time of the year we have a lot of seasonable employees, which puts us close to three- hundred (300) staff members this time of the year. The Parks Department has an $11.2 million annual operating budget. The annual capital budget is only $150,000 annually. That's a problem that we want to continue to talk about. The park bond the council approved for $5 million went to a lot of capital projects, and we're holding the bulk of it for the Charles Black Center expansion. A list of the capital projects is up to date and online. In terms of maintenance and repairs, we are significantly behind. Operationally to fund our programs, we are about in line with where we are supposed to be. Our tax base makes up eighty -one (8 1) percent of the Parks budget, fees and sponsors make up nineteen (19) percent. In other cities, it is closer to seventy -five (75) percent and twenty -five (25) percent. There are certain things we do not charge for. Things that highly benefit the community such as the trails or the river walk, or swings at the park come at no cost. The zoos, mentoring programs and community centers are almost fully subsidized as well. Special events, leagues, and other similar programs have cost recovery programs to pay for things like umpires. Special classes like Zumba, archery, and others are meant to pay for themselves. We may cover the capital or the investment in the property. Concessions, bus tours and individual memberships help recover funds. The East Race Waterway, this hemisphere's first man made white water course, is probably one of the most progressive things the Parks Department has done. 2