In the first half FY 2017 the Parks and Recreation Department has experienced some circumstances/issues that required the expenditure of funds from within the Department budget for unbudgeted expenses. We now need to transfer funds from reserves so that we can finish the year operationally.

1) Hurricane Matthew- Based on the projected path of Hurricane Matthew the department had the shade sails removed at the beach. The cost of removing all sails and replacing the front sails  was  $12,000.00. The shade sail over the playground had to repaired before it could be re-installed. The cost of repair and replacement is $9,900.00. The total cost of shade sail removal, repair and replacement was $21,900.00. These expenses were not budgeted, nor are they covered by FEMA or insurance.

2) The Riviera Beach Chargers football program had 2 teams, the Junior Varsity and the Unlimited team go deep in the playoffs. The Junior Varsity team played in the National Championship tournament as well as the National Championship game. Both teams had overnight travel, lodging, food and other expenses as a a part of their success. Staff had budgeted for the regular season and local playoffs but not for the regionals, sectionals and Nationals. The total cost of the playoffs was $35,572.00. This included trips to Sarasota, Land O Lakes, Bradenton,St Cloud and Orlando Wide World of Sports for the National Championships. These expenses covered players, coaches, cheerleaders and staff.

3) Maintenance at the Municipal Beach- The Fy 2017 Parks and Recreation Budget did not include any monies for maintenance of the Municipal Beach Park. Based on concerns and complaints from the public the department took an aggressive approach to performing some task even though it was not budgeted. The task that were performed were: replace the swing set as it had structural failure and was not safe, replaced the guard tower rails on the beach as they had rotted and the tower was leaning and had become unsafe, replaced rules and regulations signage, replaced the dune delineation post and rope, repainted the shade sail support structures, repaired playground turf and climbing apparatus, repaired the shower towers, repaired and replaced restroom fixtures, trimmed all trees and replaced rusted picnic tables. We felt it important to get the repairs done for season so that residents and visitors would have a more enjoyable time at the beach. The cost of these repairs was $24,929.00

4) In February the HVAC unit at Barracuda Bay failed and had to be replaced. There were no monies budgeted for this replacement. The cost of replacing the unit was $ 6,200.00

The total amount of unbudgeted expenses is $ 88,601.00 

With 5 months remaining(our busiest months) in the fiscal year we need to transfer these funds back to Parks and Recreation so that we can stay ahead of maintenance, prepare properly for the upcoming football season and other programming.