An effort to fund parks was rejected by Lacey voters. What does the city do now?

Despite a major informational push by the city to educate voters about the need for additional funding to support parks, the proposal to create a parks district went down to defeat for a second time in the August primary.

If approved, it would have levied a property tax to maintain and fund new parks throughout the city. Lacey has more than 20 parks, including Brentwood neighborhood favorite Wonderwood.

Still, voters rejected that ballot measure 5,746 to 5,101 votes, official election results show.

That left Lacey City Council asking: What now?

Given the city’s low debt levels, Deputy Mayor Malcolm Miller said he would be open to taking on more debt in the form of general obligation bonds to help fund parks.

“I would be willing to consider, you know, maybe taking on some debt to get something cool happening and something done in terms of parks,” he said.

His idea won support from council members Carolyn Cox and Robin Vazquez.

“I do think our parks are one of our strongest assets as a city, and that we would be irresponsible not to try to find a way to fund improvements, to maintain them, to do what we can to expand Cuoio Park and the Regional Athletic Complex,” Cox said. “I mean, there’s just so much need there, and it exceeds our ability with the general fund to fund those.”

Regular maintenance is important, Vazquez said.

“I’m supportive as well, because I think it’s irresponsible of us to defer maintenance,” she said. “Some of our parks need maintenance. They need repairs. They need that targeted investment to keep them nice.”

Council member Nic Dunning said the interest rate environment might work in the city’s favor in 18 to 24 months.

But council member Michael Steadman rejected the idea, pointing out the state of the city’s budget.

“You know what? This could be a hard sell for me. I don’t think I can support taking on debt when we have a deficit like we’re facing,” he said.

The general fund portion of the city’s budget — the portion of the budget that typically funds most city services — has a preliminary shortfall of about $2.7 million, said Finance Director Troy Woo during a pre-budget workshop on Sept. 16.

For 2026, the city anticipates $73 million in expenses versus anticipated revenue of $70.3 million for the general fund.

City Manager Rick Walk also threw cold water on taking on more debt, saying the city couldn’t cover new bond debt with existing revenue.

“Our funds coming in need to go to current operations,” he said.

There also are restrictions on the type of bond debt that could be used. For example, the city could not issue debt to cover maintenance projects, he said.

“It has to be for a capital project,” Walk said.

The council walked back its enthusiasm after hearing those comments. Still, Miller wants to have a future conversation about parks.

“So at the beginning of the year, we’ll be able to revisit this conversation and see if it’s even viable at that point in time, after we get our budget settled,” he said.

This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.