In 2014 the voters of Seattle approved the creation of the Seattle Park District. The District has taxing authority beyond limits placed on the City of Seattle by law. This new source of tax revenue provides urgently needed stable funding for maintaining, improving, and increasing Seattle parks, community centers, and recreation programs. At the time the Park District was created Seattle Parks and Rec was suffering from $267 million worth of delayed maintenance due to lack of funds.
2016 was the first full year of the new District’s operations. A report has just been released so tax payers can see where and how their money was spent last year. 59% of the 2016 budget went towards getting a start on the huge backlog of delayed maintenance.
If you are interested in reading the report, go to this Parkways blog post and click on the 2016 Report to the Community link. The report will automatically download in PDF format.
Park Preview 
Michigan parks have HUGE issues with delayed maintenance. As do our roads. And government buildings. I wish Seattle well with this venture! It would be great to see the parks spruced up all over.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah to all of that. I just read something recently about road conditions nationally, and Washington ranked near the bottom of the list. Which surprised me. But I guess having lived in Washington for most of my adult life our roads seem normal and it didn’t occur to me there might be places that are much more free of potholes, bumps, and cracks!
There are severe funding pinches everywhere that are left over from the Great Recession. Luckily Seattle is full of treehuggers who are willing to pay a bit more each year in order to keep our park system functioning at a higher level. Parks really do improve the quality of life for everyone, even those who never step foot in them. (They at least get to enjoy the green space when passing by, etc.)
LikeLike