A referendum that would have raised over $1 million in much needed repair funds for Murray-Calloway County parks has been voted down.
The parks board started collecting signatures in February to get the measure on the ballot. It proposed a 5 cent tax on every $100 of assessed property value. Murray’s City Council unanimously endorsed the tax in March. However, Judge-Executive Larry Elkins said if voters approved the tax, he would recommend reallocating local government funding, which was about half of the total parks budget.
Parks Director Tab Brockman said this means the parks board will have to make some tough decisions this winter, but the referendum vote did have one positive outcome.
“It’s obvious by 11,000 votes that the parks are important to our community.... There’s challenges, but, of course, with the challenges now there’s opportunities," Brockman said. "It’s really my hope that our city and county government will come together… and figure out how we can raise additional finances for this because the problems that we talked about during the whole referendum issue are still there.”
Brockman said some priorities include dealing with a leaky 40-year-old city pool, bringing ball field lighting up to safety standards, and increasing accessibility.
