Park and Facility Condition Assessment

How Our Parks Are Funded And Maintained Creating Parks

The City of Tracy funds the acquisition and development of neighborhood and community parks through impact fees from new residential development. This long-standing practice has been successful in attracting new homeowners and providing recreation opportunities for a diverse community as it grows.

The Development Impact Fee (DIF) is based on the relationship between the estimated cost to develop new parks and the estimated service population of new parks. Development fees fund only the construction of new parks and cannot cover the costs of maintenance of new and/or existing parks or the redevelopment or renovation of existing parks. The City’s park land impact fee will be updated following this Master Plan update.

Tracy voters passed a half-cent sales tax in 2016 (Measure V), which raises approximately $10 million per year to fund City services, including but not limited to parks. As a result, park acquisition and development projects rely on a combination of development impact fees, Measure V, and contributions from the City’s General Fund.

Maintaining Parks

The City of Tracy maintains all of the city’s parks, but funding for maintenance is split. A majority of the city’s parks (50) are funded through Landscape Maintenance Districts (LMDs) or Community Facilities Districts (CFDs) established for various neighborhoods, typically at the time of development. This includes nearly all of the city’s mini parks as well as 14 neighborhood parks. Funding levels vary among the LMDs and CFDs, which has resulted in different levels of maintenance in different neighborhoods.

The remaining 27 parks are funded through the General Fund. This includes all of the City’s community parks, and 80 percent of the City’s park land.

Clarifying lifecycle maintenance standards and achieving a more consistent level of care is a goal this Master Plan Update will help to achieve.