A $30,000 grant reopened two riverfront parks, but most city parks remain closed while voters decide the future of a new service fee.
INDEPENDENCE — Most of Independence’s city parks remain closed to the public, and city officials now say the closures are tied to about $41,000 a month in parks operating costs as a funding dispute heads toward voters in November.
The figure applies only to parks, not the Heritage Museum, Independence Communications Director Emmanuel Goicochea told Salem Business Journal.
A Finance Department spreadsheet provided by the city puts the monthly parks figure at about $41,047. Personnel accounts for roughly $17,167 of that amount, followed by about $8,900 for repairs and maintenance, $7,708 for contracted services and smaller amounts for supplies and utilities.
Closing the parks does not eliminate every expense, however. The city still owns the properties and is continuing enough maintenance to address safety concerns and protect infrastructure and city property. Goicochea said the parks are no longer being maintained at their previous full-service level.
The barriers surrounding playgrounds and other park areas are also not creating a monthly rental bill. The city owns the fencing used for the closures, Goicochea said.
Two prominent riverfront spaces have already reopened. Friends of Community Parks provided $30,000 to keep Riverview Park and Independence Landing operating through Dec. 31. The money covers the ongoing costs of keeping those two parks open, including staffing, utilities and other park operations.
It does not provide enough funding to reopen the rest of the city’s closed parks or solve Independence’s broader General Fund shortage.
The closures stem from a fight over a new monthly fee approved by the City Council earlier this summer. The charge would collect $11.50 for library and museum services and $8.15 for parks, for a combined $19.65 per month. Because Independence also reduced its Public Safety Fee by $7, the city calculates the net increase to affected utility accounts at $12.65.
Residents successfully referred the ordinance to voters, preventing the city from collecting the new fee while the measure is pending. Independence had already included revenue from the charge in its 2026-27 budget.
The current dispute follows a 2024 vote in which Independence residents rejected a five-year property-tax levy that also would have supported parks, the library and museum.
The Heritage Museum closed Aug. 26. The Independence Public Library remains open while the city follows a state-required process before a municipal library can close.
Voters will decide the fee Nov. 3. If it passes, the city can begin collecting the charge. If it fails, Independence will again have to decide how much of those services it can support with the money already available.
View the Parks Closure Savings breakdown provided by the City of Independence Finance Department to Salem Business Journal.
Parks Closure Savings document