The Lake Metroparks Park Board is set to vote on the district’s 2025 budget this month. While the proposed budget includes funding for new amenities and other projects, Metroparks Executive Director Paul Palagyi said that it “first and foremost” allows the district to maintain its existing park offerings. “Nothing out of the ordinary in this budget, priorities,” Palagyi said. “It’s always easy to focus on what the new things are, but we have a large park system with several million visitors every year. Their expectations are to have clean and safe parks, so a lot of what we spend in a year goes into making sure we maintain clean and safe parks.” The proposed budget lists more than $38 million in total expenditures and more than $34 million in total revenue next year. The budget summary document stated that those numbers reflect a 16.66 percent increase in expenditures and an 8.27 percent increase in revenue from 2024. The largest portion of both expenditures and revenue is budgeted for the district’s general fund. According to the budget summary, the general fund includes costs for staffing, maintenance and programming. Increased general fund revenue is expected to primarily come from interest income, the summary stated. Expected causes of increased expenditures include rising costs for salaries, health insurance premiums, services and supplies. Palagyi added that the park district has faced increasing costs from inflation. Metroparks Chief Financial Officer Chris Brassell added that as the park district opens more of its properties to the public, it will need to pay to manage and protect those areas. Livestock Manager Jenny Greskovich milks Harley, a Nubian goat, inside the Well Bred Shed on Aug. 17 as onlookers are schooled during Lake Metroparks Farmpark’s Milk and Honey Weekend. (Chad Felton — The News-Herald) Lake Metroparks is also increasing the amount of money it transfers out of the general fund for capital improvement projects in 2025. The capital improvement fund is projected to see an increase in both revenue and expenditures. Approximately $8.2 million in expenditures are budgeted, and more than $3.3 million of that is planned for new park improvements. One site with new improvements planned is the Lakefront Trail at Painesville Township Park. Lake Metroparks plans to continue work on the site next year by building phase two and engineering phase three of the trail. Metroparks Deputy Director Vince Urbanski said that the 900-foot-long phase two will go on top of a shoreline wall that was built in 2024, west of the phase one trail that opened this year. The future phase three is planned for the Diamond Shamrock property between the park and Fairport Harbor. The park district will also continue work at Hemlock Ridge Park in Leroy Township, which is an approximately 600-acre property located west of Vrooman Road and north of Interstate 90. Urbanski and Palagyi said that Lake Metroparks hopes to open a one-mile looped trail and build a shelter at the park next year, though Palagyi expects work at the park to continue for years. “People ask me, ‘When is that going to be finished?’” Palagyi said. “I don’t plan on retiring for a while, and I don’t think I’m ever going to see it finished. So every year it will be, we add a little bit more of a loop.” The beginning of the Lake Metroparks Lakefront Trail is pictured on April 9. The trail begins on the ramp descending to the pier at Painesville Township Park. (Bryson Durst — The News-Herald) Other budgeted capital projects include: • Building a new flush restroom and shelter at Arcola Creek Park in Madison Township. Urbanski said that engineering work there will start “shortly.” • Adding stepping stones to Indian Point Park in Leroy Township, allowing visitors to cross Paine Creek at the 12951 Seeley Road parking lot. • Adding a pedestrian footbridge near a campsite at Baker Road Park in Leroy Township. • Connecting the Early Bird parking lot to the trail system at Gully Brook Park in Willoughby Hills. • Constructing and paving a new west entrance and driveway at Lake Erie Bluffs. The park district’s financial forecast projects that it will have enough revenue and carry forward funding to cover costs until 2032. Brassell said that Lake Metroparks factored “modest increases for inflation” into the forecast. The document summary stated that it used “conservative estimates” of expenditure increases of 4 percent from 2026 to 2032 and no growth from existing revenue sources. Palagyi added that Lake Metroparks is planning to make it through 2032 without requesting new tax levies. The forecast assumes that voters will renew an existing 1.9-mill levy in 2025. Renewal would maintain existing funding but not provide an increase in tax revenues. Lake Metroparks will also enter 2025 with a decrease in revenue from the local government fund. As part of a new formula approved by a majority of Lake County communities this year, the park district’s annual local government funding will decrease from $200,000 a year to $100,000 a year. The formula also eliminates local government funding for Painesville Township Park, which is organized as a separate park district and is managed under an agreement with Lake Metroparks. The park district’s annual budget was introduced at the park board’s November meeting and was tabled until Dec. 18. The December meeting will start at 5 p.m. at Concord Woods Nature Park, 11211 Spear Road, Concord Township. An online copy of the 2025 budget request summary and detailed budget can be found at lakemetroparks.com/about-us/.