USBR matching grant will ease park district finances

The park district that struggles to find ways to pay for maintaining North Dam Park will have an easier time financing the effort with a new grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Coulee Area Park and Recreation District commissioners learned Monday night the district will get a five-year matching grant from the USBR, totaling up to $149,703.

“We can spend as much as we can match,” Commissioner and Treasurer Phil Hansen told the commissioners.

Maintaining the park costs about $30,000 a year, Hansen said.

The grant will help pay for that maintenance and for upgrades to the park, which it has dubbed North Dam Park and Events Center to reflect its uses that draw in people, including tourists, which makes it eligible for funding from lodging taxes taken in by three local towns.

Convincing them to let go of those dollars for upkeep of a park is not easy, however, and Coulee Dam this year declined the request.

The district will receive $5,000 from Electric City’s hotel/motel tax fund and $7,500 from Grand Coulee, which had the park for decades but walked away from the expense after its lease with the USBR was up, leaving the larger community to scramble to save the asset.

Commission Chairman Bob Valen said the district has also benefit from sponsors this year, who have agreed to help bridge the funding gap.

Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union has pledged $3,000 a year for five years. Coulee Medical Center committed to $5,000 for three years, specifically for advertising and promoting events.

In addition, volunteer hours can be added up to help meet the match for the grant at a rate of $26 per hour, Valen said. Several groups, such as local softball clubs or others, can contribute to that.

“We can look forward to not having to worry about how w’re going to finance maintenance of the park,” Hansen said.