All Dallas Parks and Recreation facilities will be closed today and many employees will go unpaid as the city works to rectify a budget shortfall.
According to KERA News, the city is facing a $30 million budget shortfall that now has a direct impact on the Parks and Recreation Department. Dallas scheduled several furlough days for public employees to alleviate its financial woes, and employees may not use sick time, paid time off, or vacation days on the scheduled closures.
The Parks and Recreation Department’s administrative offices and maintenance facilities will remain open while all others are closed. Team sports leagues will not compete today, nor will facilities be available for open gym or open recreation time, senior programming, summer camps or pickleball.
"Furloughs are not our preferred solution; however, they enable us to reduce expenses, protect jobs and employee health benefits, and continue delivering services to our residents," said Dallas city manager Bizor Tolbert. "These steps are necessary to navigate the current financial challenges and to position the City responsibly for the upcoming FY27 and FY28 biennial budget."
While city officials hope the closures can ease budget constraints, the Parks and Recreation Department could see four facilities close or drastically reduce hours as Dallas attempts to cut costs. In May, parks director John Jenkins said the city could cut $11 million from the parks department budget, with $7 million of those reductions coming out of the department’s core services.
According to NBC DFW, those closures could include “the Arcadia, Marcus Annex, Teen Tech Center and Umphress community centers. It also calls for reduced hours at recreation centers and aquatic centers, along with less mowing and litter pickup at city parks.”
