2022 City of Shakopee Budget

119

Budget Impact: Shakopee’s parks, trails, and recreation facilities improve the local tax base and increase property values. National studies cite quality parks and recreation as key factors that businesses and prospective homeowners consider when making relocation decisions. Consequently, Shakopee’s parks, trails, and recreation facilities are a tangible reflection of the high quality of life available to citizens in the community. Shakopee is a community that affords residents access to programs and places which can help reduce stress, lower health care costs, and deepen connections with others, as well as opportunities and spaces to explore the community and recreate outdoors in nature. COVID-19 continued to have significant impact on the ability to deliver services, programs, and events in 2021. We saw growth in those of those willing and able to participate, staffing shortages dramatically impacted our capabilities. The department continues to leverage creative collaborative partnerships, innovative solutions, and emerging technologies to deliver an expanding menu of safe recreational opportunities to improve the quality of life for Shakopee citizens amid this dynamic pandemic. We saw participant numbers back on par with pre-2020 COVID-19 closures, cancellations, and modifications. Ice arena rentals rebounded, and a new partnership launched the Shakopee Skate School adding another revenue stream to the facilities success. The software system (MaxGalaxy) announced a closure necessitating a conversion and migration to a new system (CivicRec) which customers and staff report as intuitively user friendly. Memberships at the Community Center are rebounding as customers feel safer to step into our facility to resume their activities or to participate in our programming. Staffing is the key to offering quality customer service and is critical to maintaining quality programs and facilities and remains the greatest challenge to service delivery with the present job market. We continue to search out best practices for recruiting and retaining quality personnel to offer the great customer service our residents and visitors have come to expect. In the year ahead, Shakopee has the opportunity to consider building on our strong reputation in the field of parks and recreation as we refine and implement upgrades to SandVenture along and Lions Park, along with the development of other parks and trails in the community. Private/public partnerships, volunteers, and sponsorships are critical for citizen feedback to translate to actional plans that continue to build on Shakopee’s strong sense of service and public pride in our community.

EMPLOYEES

PERCENT OF GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES

18

18

16

16

Recreation 14.0%

Actual 2019 Actual 2020 Budget 2021 Budget 2022

Number of Employees (FTEs)