Plans to Give 2 Cities Control of Parks Stalled

Proposals to give Cerritos and La Mirada control over county-run parks within their borders have stalled because the cities want to charge outsiders extra money to use certain park services.

Cerritos City Manager Art Gallucci said he suggested the separate fee schedule because city taxpayers would need help paying an annual park maintenance bill of $700,000. La Mirada City Manager Gary Sloan said the added cost to his city would be $500,000 a year.

“La Mirada residents should not have to pay for the people outside of La Mirada,” Sloan said.

But Henry Roman, the county’s senior assistant director for parks and recreation, said all county residents should have the same rights of access because the parks were built with county funds.

The county was originally hoping to divest itself of nine regional parks to cut maintenance costs, but only two host cities--Cerritos and La Mirada--expressed interest. Roman said county officials may soon attempt to sweeten the deal by offering cities money along with the parks.