The Indy Herald & Globe

By John R. Bruning.

Independence–August 27, 2026. The city of Independence announced this morning that an eleventh hour grant totaling $30,000 has been offered to the town by the local non-profit group “Friends of Community Parks” in order to keep Riverview Park and Independence Landing open until December. The remaining city parks will remain closed until either another grant is found, or the vote in November restores the city services fee to our utility bills.

The city’s parks cost about $41,000 a month to operate and maintain. Of that number, $17,000 is the burdened personnel expenses (health insurance, PERS contributions, payroll tax). Riverview Park is the largest single expense in the park network, where at its August peak it runs around $10,000 to operate and maintain.

Since the city council passed a budget at the end of June that included the city services fee, Greg Ellis’ referendum to put that to a citywide vote in November forced Independence to suspend collection of it.

The result has been an average $80,000 a month deficit in the general fund, which triggered the closures of the parks and museum and initiated the abolishment process of our library.

Since the state requires a lengthy closure process for a library, including two public hearings on the matter, the city cannot immediately shutter it to save costs. Instead, the savings from the other service closures will be used to keep the library open, while the remaining monthly deficit is closed with the general fund’s emergency contingency reserve, which currently is $212,000.

If the city’s voters restore the city services fee in the November election, the soonest Independence can start collecting it is late December after the election is certified. This means the overall deficit was projected to be nearly $500,000 before the restoration of that revenue.

The parks closures were intended to cut that deficit in half, but even so other funds will need to be found because the general fund reserves will not be enough to plug the gap.

Independence receives $2.8 million in property tax revenue, which goes to the general fund. However, the total general fund expenses to run the police department, parks, museum and library is just under $10 million. Funding for the police department was stabilized with the public safety fee added to our utility bills a few years ago, but that still left a structural deficit for the other services.

In 2024, Independence voters resoundingly turned down a property tax levee that would have funded the library, parks and museums. In the wake of that defeat, the city put together an ad hoc committee of community members, who recommended the city services fee to the budget committee. After thorough review and public testimony, the budget committee voted to approve it. It went to the council, which voted to approve it as well.

For now, thanks to the generosity of Friends of the Community Parks, Riverview Park and Independence Landing will be reopened this morning. The other city parks will remain closed and barricaded.