Hinsdale Village Budget: Funding for Skate Park Out, Burns Warming House In

The Hinsdale Village Board discussed the village budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year for the first time Tuesday night, agreeing on only one revision to the $33.5 million draft budget.

The board developed a consensus to eliminate $7,500 in funding for skate park improvements and divert the money instead to upgrades to the Burns Field warming house.

Trustee Bob Schultz initiated the discussion that led to the funding switch.

“The skate park funding, I question,” he said. “I think that money could be better spent on other park improvements.”

“I’m not a huge advocate of the skate park,” Trustee Kim Angelo said, “but my guess is that, in the condition it’s in, it’s susceptible to broken-window syndrome. If we don’t do something, it’ll be an eyesore.”

Schultz said the skate park situation was nearing the point where the board would need to decide if it was “throwing good money after bad.”

“We’re not supposed to take action tonight,” Village President Tom Cauley noted, “but certainly if you want to get a sense of whether you have a majority of trustees who’ll agree to take that out of the budget, then I don’t have a problem with that. It’s a small item.”

“I don’t want to reduce the amount of money we’re spending on parks,” Schultz added.

“Another project we could fund in that same dollar amount would be upgrades to the Burns warming house,” Parks and Recreation Director Gina Hassett said. “That facility is used year-round.”

Ice skaters use it in the winter, she noted, and platform tennis players use it throughout the year.

Hassett said doors and windows needed to be replaced on the structure and work on the fireplace also could be done.

“I think that would benefit the community as a whole,” she said. “The skate park’s been there since 2003, I believe, so it’s kind of lived its useful life.”

She said the village potentially was looking at more expensive capital projects in the future at the park to replace and upgrade pieces of equipment.

“I do think we can prolong the life of the park,” Hassett said, “but it is like a playground. It needs reinvestment.”

She said one possibility to consider was allowing the existing skate park to finish out its useful life and replace it in a few years with a new facility.

Hassett said most of the $7,500 in funding earmarked for the park was to be spent on installing a turnstile designed to deter bicyclists from entering it.

“I would much rather spend that money on the warming house at Burns than on the skate park,” Trustee Laura LaPlaca said. “I don’t want to spend $7,500 if next year we decide we don’t want a skate park there.”

A majority of trustees expressed their agreement to make the funding switch in the budget, which could be formally adopted at their next meeting in April.