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The new playground that opened on Muzzy Drive this spring cost $114,000, it was funded by money from the 2018 budget (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)
Parks funding

Parks department to make budget ask for playgrounds

Oct 8, 2019 | 12:36 PM

A new report on the state of the Prince Albert’s playgrounds was praised by city councillors on Monday night.

The document is a detailed inventory of the 30 playgrounds in the city with individual recommendations for their improvements on a 25-year timeline.

Last year, the city budgeted an unprecedented $100,000 for capital investment in playgrounds.

Parks Manager Tim Yeaman is hoping to get that amount, or more, during this fall’s budget discussions. But he wouldn’t say on Monday night how much he was planning on requesting from the city.

“We will be making an ask,” Yeaman told paNOW after the meeting. “But we’re going to take this week to sit down and analyze some data and have a look at what a reasonable ask might be, we don’t want to just throw a number out there.”

Coun. Ted Zurakowski told Yeaman during the meeting to be “bold” with his request.

“You’ve heard around the room here that everyone is happy with your report and I think, in my opinion, your budget ask should reflect that,” Zurakowski said. “Because if you ask for ‘amount A’ and it should be ‘C,’ but ‘D’ is what’s needed to get the job done, you might get ‘A.’ And you know that.”

Alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom

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