MANKATO — The Mankato City Council’s latest cost-trimming decision is likely to produce smiles from some homeowners and a few frowns from kids who use the Thomas Park playground.
Attempting to reduce the size of the 2023 property tax hike on residential homesteads, the council asked staff to look at whether it’s necessary to replace three sets of playground equipment in a single year. The answer Monday night was that one — at Thomas Park just east of East High School — could be delayed for a savings of $350,000.
The original city budget proposal included replacing decades-old play structures at Tourtellotte Park, Erlandson Park and Thomas Park next year. With costs routinely topping a quarter of a million dollars for new park playgrounds, the expenditures received scrutiny from council members as they looked at slicing a property tax levy hike that was initially recommended at 13.9%.
After deciding in August to limit the levy increase to no more than 9.75%, the latest trimming would bring it down to 8.11%, Administrative Services Director Parker Skophammer told the council during Monday’s work session. Although a formal vote won’t come until next month, council members made clear they favored making Thomas Park wait in return for a bit of relief for taxpayers.
The reduction won’t be life-changing for homeowners, who are bearing the brunt of property tax hikes this year because of sharp increases in the taxable values of homes compared to other classifications of property. An average Mankato home with a value of $214,000 will pay about $16 less than if the Thomas Park project had stayed in the budget, although the city portion of taxes will still be jumping by 20% or more for many homeowners. An average commercial property valued at just less than $900,000 will see a $111 benefit from the decision.
City staff did an inspection of the equipment in all three parks and determined that Thomas, while at the end of its lifespan, didn’t present safety issues that needed a 2023 fix.
“We need to start at Tourtellotte and we need to do Erlandson,” City Manager Susan Arntz said. “Thomas should be done, but it can wait.”
The certified playground inspectors on the city’s staff assessed an “overall condition index” score for the playground equipment across the city’s parks, finding an average score of 70. Tourtellotte scored a 40 with Erlandson and Thomas coming in at 50.
The potential safety issues, though, were concentrated at Tourtellotte and Erlandson.
It’s not surprising that multiple playgrounds are coming due for a replacement in a single year, Skophammer said. Mankato has more than 40 city parks, and many of them include a playground.
“We have a lot of play structures that are 30 years old,” he said.
There are actually five that will hit their 30th birthday in 2024, Arntz said. Along with suffering from wear and damage, older equipment doesn’t feature the latest safety standards.
“A 30-year life on playgrounds is not what you’d expect anymore,” she said.
Council member Jenn Melby-Kelley complimented the thorough analysis of whether any of the park projects could wait in the name of property tax relief.
“You responded to our questions and concerns and you came back with this,” Melby-Kelley said.
Arntz said the inspections and the rating system provide the city with a head start in setting up a replacement schedule for the playgrounds citywide.
“We can look at the condition of the equipment and develop a plan for the rest of it,” Arntz said, although she had a prediction for which park will be at or near the top of the to-do list once Tourtellotte and Erlandson are completed. “Thomas would likely be the next playground we do, whether that’s ‘24 or whenever.”