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Another year, another round of budget cuts at Virginia's Explore Park. This time, however, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. On July 1, the park will get $200,000 from the state - the park's first substantial state funding in years. But Explore needs to raise nearly $158,000 by June 30 to meet this year's budget. Jo Nelson, the park's development director, is confident that will happen, but Debbie Pitts, Explore's executive director, plans to cut spending anyway. Pitts wants to get ahead of money problems and avoid the dramatic cuts that have become almost routine. "My focus is on keeping the staff and cutting everything else and ride it out for the last quarter," Pitts said Friday. The cuts Pitts intends to implement were planned while this year's budget was being developed. That budget, Pitts said, was "very conservative." But she told park staff to find a way to cut it by 10 percent, just in case. "We're just going to stop spending," Pitts said. "If we can do that, I think we're going to make it." Most of the cuts will actually be delays, putting off maintenance and repairs until the new budget year begins. "All the staff people keep looking at Debbie saying. 'We don't have anything else to cut,'" Nelson told the park's board of directors, the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority. Cuts are old hat at Explore Park. A staff of 31 has shrunk to 13. Salaries have been cut. Operating hours have been cut. State support of the park - which is owned by the state - has been reduced even faster. In fiscal 2000, the General Assembly provided 45 percent of Explore's operating budget. That fell to 30 percent in 2001, then to zero the next year. Since then, the state has contributed a little more than $60,000 to the park. That's what Roanoke County pays each year to staff the park's Blue Ridge Parkway visitors center. It costs roughly $900,000 a year to run the park. Roanoke County has largely filled the funding breech. In 2001, county supervisors voted to give Explore $3.1 million over five years, not counting an interest-free $250,000 loan and lots of free services. County employees write the park's checks, handle its payroll, keep its books, maintain its vehicles and help with maintenance, landscaping, promotion and planning. Pitts, in charge of the park's operations since 2003, is a county employee. Pitts knows that the park can't cut its way to prosperity. She and her staff have developed new programs and marketing strategies. "We're trying to do things a little differently," Pitts said. "We're trying to target some markets instead of just shotgunning programs out there." Rental income is up, attendance at revamped off-season workshops has increased and attempts to attract tour buses seem to be bearing fruit. The park's Brugh Tavern reopened in September, under what may be the most stable management in the restaurant's checkered history. Construction should begin this spring on a new greenway by the river and a historic-themed playground. There's talk that a 15,000-seat amphitheater, funded by Roanoke and Roanoke County, may be built on the park's land on the Bedford County side of the Roanoke River. The park is moving ahead with plans for a 700-seat amphitheater near the Brugh Tavern that will include four classroom buildings that can double as premium seating. There's also a change in store for the park's governing board. The 13 members appointed by the governor will be joined after July 1 by two state senators and four members of the House of Delegates. "I think that's going to help us at budget time," said board chairman Fred Anderson. "We hope that the ones that are chosen would have some influence with the money committees." |
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