Seattle community centers ante up to bail out city

Seattle's community centers are surrendering money they earn from program fees and private fundraisers to help bail out the city's general fund.

In all, Mayor Greg Nickels plans to use $1.2 million of the community centers' money — by taking a third of each center's budget.

This is the first time Seattle officials have asked the city's 38 community centers to turn over money they normally keep from programs and fundraisers. The centers are partially funded by the city.

Leaders at some community centers are upset — at losing the money, and because they didn't get to weigh in before the decision was made.

Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Dewey Potter said using community-center money helped avoid program cancellations, park closures and other cuts residents would notice.

Seattle is dealing with a shortfall of more than $40 million in this year's budget and another projected $40 million in the 2010 budget.

To close the gap, Nickels is preparing to make $13.3 million in budget cuts and spend some of the city's rainy-day fund.

Every city department will take a hit. The city plans to eliminate nearly 60 positions and close public libraries for a week this summer.

Each community center is governed by an advisory board. Those board members elect the Associated Recreation Council, and the council is in charge of all the money that flows through the centers for classes, child care, pool use, and other activities.

Volunteers at the Green Lake Small Craft Center, for instance, raise about $60,000 a year — money they expect to pay for the center's regattas, classes and other programs.

"Both the process and the substance of the decisions made here were wrong," said Tim Amen, the center's treasurer. He said the city didn't tell center leaders about the exchange until after the money was gone.

ARC Board President Charlie Zaragoza says the board should have consulted the centers more. But the city needed a decision in five days, he said.

"We were afraid cuts could threaten to close facilities," Zaragoza said. "Based on that, we felt that we wanted to honor the partnership and felt that by doing that, we could offer some funds."

The recreation board deliberated for three hours and voted to give the city $400,000 now and $800,000 in 2010, Zaragoza said.

"What are the alternatives?" asked City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who chairs the parks committee. "If you have money in a savings account or in surplus, I would say that it should be fair to use that first and continue the programs and the operations."