(Riverton, WY) – Riverton’s R Recreation program will be fully funded this year due to a $40,000 contribution from the Fremont County School District 25 Recreation Board.
The one-time award will supplement the reduced funding amount the program will receive from the City of Riverton.
‘Out-of-the-box thinking’
Initially, the Riverton City Council said it would provide R Recreation with $107,000 this year – well below the program’s $135,000 funding request.
A week later, the council decided it would revisit the funding discussion, however, citing feedback from community members who advocated for full funding for R Recreation.
That community feedback prompted Councilwoman Rebecca Pierson-Lewis to reach out to the FCSD 25 Recreation Board to see if they could help fund the program.
“That was excellent, out-of-the-box thinking,” Councilmember Mike Bailey said during a council meeting this week. “All of the city and county entities are struggling budget-wise … so it’s good that we can come up with alternative ways to get things taken care of. So I appreciate that very much.”
Councilmember Karla Borders agreed that Pierson-Lewis did an “amazing thing” by approaching the FCSD 25 Recreation Board.
“It really puts my heart at ease, because … this has been a tough, tough budget session,” Borders said. “So I just want to thank you for that.”
Councilmember Kyle Larson said Pierson-Lewis’ actions “really lifted a big burden from us.”
“We appreciate what you’ve done,” he said. “(It) relieves a lot of pressure.”
R Recreation Program Director Mary Axthelm also commended Pierson-Lewis as well as Councilmember Karen Johnson for their work to restore funding for the program.
“We understand (that) everyone is experiencing budget strains,” Axthelm said. “We get that, and we appreciate the time you guys have put into trying to figure this out, because everybody’s hurting right now.”
She added that R Recreation has been “very humbled by the outpouring of love on our behalf from the community” – including the “amazing support of the District 25 Rec Board,” which “has agreed to support us to compensate our budget.”
“We’re hoping that takes some pressure off of you guys and allows you to bless some other organizations,” Axthelm said.
PAWS
The $40,000 contribution by the FCSD 25 Recreation Board allowed the Riverton City Council to decrease its funding allocation to R Recreation even further this week, to $95,000.
That decision freed up more funding for the PAWS for Life Animal League, which had requested $75,000 this year and was initially slated to receive $20,000 but will now receive $45,000.
Borders pointed out that she has received “a lot of emails and texts from people that (were) really concerned about the funding for PAWS and how important it is that they get their funding.”
Plus, Councilmember Eric Carr said, without PAWS, the city would be responsible for all animal control operations in town, and “we would be likely looking at a minimum of $250,000” to cover that cost.
“Any dollar that we spend (on PAWS) we get back tenfold,” he said. “So it is absolutely critical. And it is a public health issue.”
The increase for PAWS resulted in a decrease for three other groups, including the Wind River Transportation Authority, which had requested $86,708 this year and was initially slated to receive $45,000 but will now receive $42,000; Eagle’s Hope Transitions, which had requested $53,000 this year and was initially slated to receive $20,000 and will now receive $15,000; and the Riverton Chamber of Commerce, which had requested $44,060 this year and was initially slated to receive $10,000 and will now receive $5,000.
The funding allocations for three other organizations remained unchanged this week, including for Juvenile Justice Services of Fremont County, which had requested $35,000 and will receive $30,000; the Riverton Volunteer Fire Department, which had requested $5,000 and will receive $5,000, and Injury Prevention Resources, which had requested $5,500 and will receive $3,000.
For more information, call the City of Riverton at (307) 856-2227.