Park District Cuts $73,118 From Budget

Cost-cutting continues at the Conejo Recreation and Park District, with the board of directors slashing $73,118 from an already reduced budget for the 1996-97 fiscal year.

The district has lost 29 employees over the past four years, reduced operating hours and postponed all nonessential repairs. It has also begun using volunteers whenever possible and put a hold on all capital improvement projects.

Employees will get a 3% cost-of-living raise, but hiring at the district--which serves all of Thousand Oaks, including Newbury Park and parts of Westlake Village--is frozen indefinitely.

Shifts in property tax receipts, put in place by the state in 1992, have left the district in poor financial shape. The district gets 73% of its operating revenue from property taxes.

Despite what General Manager Tex Ward describes as a “dark cloud” hanging over the district’s finances, park officials hope to minimize the effect of continued cuts on local residents.