McCreary Rec Center

The City of Perry recently certified its budget for the 2019 fiscal year, and one of the departments with the biggest budget is Parks and Recreation.

Parks and Rec Director John Anderson says he received $250,000 just for improvements to the McCreary Recreation Building. Those improvements include replacing corroded electrical panels in the pool, control panels for the boiler and chiller systems, and work on the roof. Anderson says the repairs are much needed, but like last year the rec center will have to be closed for periods of time while the work is being done. “That type of thing just has to happen, and we’ll do the best that we can to promote that, advertise that, and let our patrons know what’s going on. We may have to shift around some programming. But I hope that people bear with us, and in the end it’s going to be a better place. We just got to get through this construction year.”

In addition to the $250,000 allocated for the McCreary Center, $200,000 will go towards the parks. Anderson says that will mostly be general maintenance, but will also include things like rock for the parking lot of the soccer complex. The $450,000 for the Parks and Rec budget was much more than Anderson requested last year, in his first budget period as Director. He says he learned a lot from that experience and came into this year much more prepared, and the City rewarded him for that diligence. “I really did a lot of homework, spent a ton of time putting together good packets for Council to look at. I mean, it was easy for me, too, I’m not going to lie! When things are broke, we need to fix them. So I simply budgeted for things that needed to be fixed. And the voice was heard, so a big thank you to those people that had a part in that process.”

To hear more from Anderson, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.