To address a structural deficit in the city budget, City Manager Robert Belleman proposed cutting roughly 40% of parks funding, and allowing voters to decide whether or not to replenish those funds through a property tax millage.

East Lansing Parks Commission Blasts Proposed Budget Cuts

Members of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission had a simple, unified message for City Council after their Wednesday, May 21 meeting: if you’re looking to make cuts in the city budget, look elsewhere.

The meeting came after City Manager Robert Belleman proposed eliminating the general fund’s entire $2.6 million contribution to the Parks & Recreation Fund, as the city struggles with a structural deficit. Belleman proposed putting a property tax millage on the November ballot to allow voters to decide whether or not to replenish the parks fund. 

The city’s next fiscal year starts July 1, and City Council is scheduled to make final budget adjustments and adopt a budget tonight, Tuesday, May 27. Council declined to include the parks cuts in budget adjustments made at the May 13 meeting, but there is an item on tonight’s agenda to draft language for a parks millage.

Ahead of the decision, Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission Chair Sarah Reckhow wrote a two-page letter on behalf of the commission against the proposal. 

A chart showing the Parks and Recreation Department’s expenses and revenue in the FY26 proposed budget and during the current fiscal year. (From meeting agenda)

Reckhow’s letter makes four main arguments:

1) The proposal does not include enough details and was announced too late in the budget season. 

2) A millage would face an uphill battle to pass and would sow further distrust towards city government. 

3) Singling out one department is the wrong strategy. 

4) Parks and Recreation are essential in the community. 

“The City Manager’s proposal lacks effective planning and coalition building, will increase mistrust in city government, unfairly singles out one department for the City’s budget challenges, and will undermine the services that attract and retain residents in East Lansing,” Reckow wrote in the open letter. 

The full text of the letter can be viewed here.

At the parks commission meeting, frustration toward Belleman and any potential supporters on City Council was evident, as commissioners felt blindsided by the proposal to cut roughly 40% of parks funds. 

“I’m extremely disappointed that the city manager has gone through this process in the manner in which he has chosen,” Commissioner Adam Delay said, “by which I mean, zero involvement or notification of this commission about that proposal. The proposal came out six days after this commission voted on a budget to recommend to City Council. In my view, that suggests either A, that was done intentionally, or B, even worse, our input is not thought of as being valued.

“I am not only deeply concerned but offended by some council members who choose to lecture the community and members of this commission about the measures needed to take to reduce a budget deficit that his votes created.”

DeLay called it a “proverbial gun to the head” and said a millage was akin to “budget trickery to increase our general property tax mills because we can’t with the income tax.”

At one point, DeLay took issue with a comment Councilmember Erik Altmann made at the May 13 City Council meeting.

“I think you can think of a contingency,” Altmann said, “where we keep a department open until the election happens…where we learn whether we’re going to keep that department and then if the voters say, ‘we we don’t need this right now,’ then we have a few months to wind that department down.”

ELi reached out to Altmann for comment or clarification on his remarks.

“I love our parks and rec facilities and the staff in that office do great work,” Altmann said in a text message.  “The problem is that we can’t afford everything we’re currently paying for. The income tax is working better than anyone expected, raising more than $4M a year that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to collect because it comes from non-residents. But our city government is still a lean operation, and we either have to replace the revenue from the franchise fee or cut expenditures—and we have to decide soon, because we don’t have much of a financial cushion. So that’s why I want to explore a millage, which is one of the options the city manager laid out. If someone has a better idea, we want to hear it. The budget is online so people can really dig in.”

City Council meets tonight, Tuesday, May 27 to finalize the fiscal year 2026 budget and will presumably decide on the future of the city’s general fund, and a Parks & Recreation millage.