The Lincoln Park District is lobbying the City of Lincoln to turn over the maintenance of city parks to them.

Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch explains the City has been approached by the Park District for them to take over maintenance of city parks. He says the Park District is a taxing body like the City of Lincoln and has been trying to work this out for a few years now. 

Mayor Welch believes the Park District has some unique ideas and notes they do have the opportunity to access grants to improve community parks. He says there are several community components to this proposal.

The proposal doesn't come without hesitation from the Mayor's perspective and some on the City Council. He explains there's been a lot of criticism that the Park District has its troubles maintaining the properties it's already charged with, among others.

According to Mayor Welch, the Park District did a temporary tax increase a few years ago to renovated its pool. They propose to keep that tax increase in place for maintenance on the parks however, there is a portion of Lincolnites that believe that is a tax increase, something the Mayor would not be in favor of.

Cut: lincolnparks4 :39 CUE: completely agree with that

The Mayor says because of the skepticism that exists regarding the Park District's ability to maintain city parks, there is a proposal to give the park district a short amount of time with a few parks to prove they are up to the task.

The Mayor says this is a conversation that will continue to evolve and believes there is a deal to be reached that will best serve the community.