As we store our July Fourth decorations, our biggest community event of the year, we celebrate how it brings people together. The Bend Park &Recreation District puts on this event because it’s a connection between America’s and Bend’s histories, going back locally to the first Pet Parade in 1932, and it still resonates with residents today. Having a foot in the past and planning ahead is how the Bend Park & Recreation District operates.

As a separate special district, your park and recreation agency plans the use of taxpayer dollars to continue to create places and programs at least comparable to those valued by earlier generations of Bendites, while meeting the evolving needs of more and newer residents. During the past three years, the district has significantly increased the capacity for community recreation by adding several new services and places for residents and visitors to enjoy their leisure hours. These include Art Station, Riley Ranch Nature Reserve, The Pavilion and Bend Whitewater Park.

During the same time, the district also increased its offerings of community outreach programs, services and free events. This includes outreach efforts to two underserved populations: low-income families and the growing Latino community. We offer fitness programs and instruction, Let’s Picnic and Days of Play summer events, Family Nights at Juniper Swim and Fitness Center and we have partnered with health insurance companies to help Medicaid-eligible customers pay for recreation and health opportunities. We are proud to have provided these services using our current revenues, without reducing services in other areas. Beyond introducing these program and events, the district plans to sustainably continue these services into the future.

Whenever a household has a big purchase, most people prefer to save up before making it. The district has historically saved and leveraged property tax revenues from our permanent tax rate for significant projects. These savings have enabled the district to purchase parkland, develop parks and expand, build and renovate facilities, including the Juniper Swim & Fitness Center, the recently built district administration building and acquisition of the land at The Pavilion.

Looking forward in fiscal year 2018-19, construction will soon begin on the Larkspur Community Center at the Bend Senior Center. This facility will welcome people of all ages and abilities, while continuing the legacy of the Bend Senior Center and further enhancing programs and opportunities for older adults. Providing this facility to the public, as with so many of our other projects, is the result of the district’s prudent savings of tax dollars. We are also starting to save for the planned development of a future park maintenance facility — a vital necessity to keep up with the community’s growth.

Community surveys over the past two decades have asked that we take care of what we have before investing in new facilities. We have achieved this by prioritizing maintenance projects ahead of development and managing staff costs by partially funding recreation programs through fees and limiting costs of PERS and health insurance. As an example, our district is one of less than a handful of public agencies in Central Oregon whose employees pay their share into the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System.

Bend residents continue to tell us that receiving a high level of service is their priority for our special district. The current budget provides the road map to continue meeting that mission. Our just-completed comprehensive plan sets a goal for residents to be within a half-mile walk to a park or trail, and to experience an integrated trail system throughout the Bend metro area.

Much has changed in Bend in recent decades, but through careful stewardship of public resources, the values of past Bendites remain the same as they have been since the first Pet Parade. Effective management of public resources ensures that we can be confident that this agency will continue this proud tradition well into the future.

— Don Horton is the executive director of Bend Park & Recreation District