Minimum wage increases park levy in Rosalia

The Rosalia Park and Recreation District has a $72,000 maintenance and operation levy on the upcoming February special election ballot. The district is raising its levy amount, but not because of anticipated projects or the need for a new heater or boiler. The raise comes as a result of the state increase in minimum wage.

“We really, really want to keep our same hours and our same staff level,” said Jenna McDonald, park board member. “We don't want to have to worry about cutting hours and closing the pool.”

During the summer months, the pool is regularly open from 1-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, it is open from 1-5 p.m.

“It gives the kids something less to do if it's closed,” said McDonald. “They're always down there, and it's hard to take that away from them.”

In order to not have to limit hours or staff at the pool, the district saw the increase from $69,000 to $72,000 as a necessity. The levy is not for collection until 2018, when the state minimum wage will be increased to $11.50. The levy accounts for the wage being at $11.50.

The wage jumped from $9.47 to $11 on Jan. 1 after voters passed Initiative 1433 in November. McDonald said the park board thought they were ahead of the game by paying employees 25 cents more than minimum wage prior to the initiative. With the passage of the initiative, though, the board had to make some cuts this year to be able to keep the district within its budget.

McDonald said the district had a part-time on call employee for the pool, and that position will no longer be filled.

“We kind of considered that a luxury,” she said. “Now we won't have that.”

The district has a pool manager and six lifeguards employed currently and plans to keep those positions filled.

“We want to stay with that, and that's really bare bones already,” said McDonald.

The district in the past has provided lifeguards with sweatshirts, T-shirts and tank tops for uniforms. They will now only provide T-shirts.

“It's the little stuff that we're cutting,” said McDonald. “We had to look at what are the kinds of things we can be without?”

With those cuts, the district will be able to operate its usual hours at the pool this summer. McDonald said she is sure the minimum wage initiative is affecting other districts as well.

“I can only imagine that it's affecting other parks districts the same,” she said. “Most of us run down to the penny already.”

McDonald also noted that by having the levy on the February ballot, the district will have the opportunity to communicate more with voters in the event the levy fails.

“We're planning, and if it passes, it will be a lot less stress as we plan,” she said. “If it fails, we've got to go back and ask what we need to do.”

The $72,000 levy, if passed, will be collected at 41 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Special election ballots are being mailed Friday, Jan. 27.