By Diana Prechter, Austin parks advocate
In a companion piece I described how Austin hands primary responsibility for its public parks to private nonprofits while keeping the land publicly owned — the model the City calls a "Level-A Partnership." Here I want to put real dollars on that trade-off, using the City's own records, for the biggest example of all: The Trail Conservancy (TTC) and the 295-acre Town Lake Metropolitan Park.
What it costs the City to maintain the whole park
In 2022, APR's own partnership program manager, Christine Chute-Canul, put the Parks Department's annual cost of maintaining the entire park in writing to then-Director Kimberly McNeeley. Her figure: roughly $975,349 a year — covering, in her words, "everything except reconditioning of the main trail." Including trail reconditioning, the all-in figure was about $1,121,664. So by the City's own reckoning, the entire park could be operated and maintained for on the order of $1 million a year. That $975,349 is a 2022 figure for maintaining the whole park; under the POMA, TTC is set to become the primary maintenance party for most of it by Phase 3, around 2032.
What the nonprofit takes in
The Trail Conservancy is not a small operation. Its most recent audited financial statements (for the year ended December 31, 2025) report total revenue of $5,147,039 — more than five times the City's own estimated cost of maintaining the whole park. Nearly all of it is grants and contributions (about $4.3 million) plus net special-events income ($640,799). TTC's revenue was higher still in 2024 — $7.8 million — lifted by the Seaholm capital campaign.
Note: The concession revenue alone — the once-public dollars now flowing through TTC from the Town Lake boating concessions — is estimated at roughly $690,000 for FY26, by itself approaching the City's entire annual cost of maintaining the park.
Rising costs for park users
When a nonprofit's business model replaces the Parks Department's, the price the public pays is no longer capped by the department's public-service mandate. The memorial bench is a small but telling example. For years the City ran a Memorial Bench Program that let any resident commemorate a loved one with an engraved plaque on a park bench — and in 2021 the Parks Board even endorsed a Commission on Seniors recommendation to add more of them. At that time, permanently adopting a City park bench cost about $2,400.
Instead of expanding it, the City paused the program. Austin Parks Department has no bench program. Today the only park bench program on the trail is run by The Trail Conservancy — available in just two locations, on boardwalks and bridges. Its cost to dedicate a bench: $15,000 for a 10-year term, or $30,000 in perpetuity. A $2,400 civic gesture has become a $15,000-to-$30,000 one.
Where a portion of it goes
TTC's most recent publicly available IRS Form 990 (fiscal year 2024) lists its highest-paid staff by name:
- Hanna Cofer, Interim CEO (about 5 months) — $144,864 (plus $13,381 in other compensation)
- Kimberly McNeeley, CEO (about 6 months) — $120,130 (plus $5,854)
- Jessica Stewart, Chief Development Officer — $119,838 (plus $11,847)
- Grady Reed, VP of Park Operations — $112,101 (plus $12,539)
- Mandi Thomas, Chief Marketing Officer — $110,905 (plus $12,469)
That is five six-figure earners in a single year (two of them CEOs serving only part of the year during a leadership transition), out of total salaries, compensation, and benefits of $1,900,356.
The 990 also raises a governance flag. TTC reports that it has a written conflict-of-interest policy — yet on the same return it discloses a related-party deal. A paid outside fundraising consultant, Sarah Story ("Sarah Story Consulting"), was paid $100,000 to serve as "Project Campaign Manager" on a fundraising campaign that took in $2.8 million (she was paid $100,000; TTC kept the remaining $2.7 million). She is not on TTC's board or staff — but the 990's Schedule L ("Transactions with Interested Persons") discloses that she is a family member of one of TTC's officers, directors, or key employees, which is what makes the payment a related-party transaction. Separately, a member of TTC's own board of directors, Ashley Fisher, was paid $35,000 — board members are ordinarily uncompensated volunteers. Neither is necessarily improper, but both are exactly the kind of related-party detail the public deserves to weigh — and neither is visible anywhere the City reports on the partnership.
The trade-off, in plain terms
- The Parks Department's cost to maintain the entire 295 acres of Town Lake Metropolitan Park is about $1M a year. To drop this from its budget by 2032, it has awarded a POMA contract to TTC (Park Operations and Maintenance Agreement).
- TTC leverages its POMA authority over the park, including the future Seaholm Intake Facility, to generate over $5M a year, which it spends on unverified "park operations and maintenance," TTC salaries — nearly $2M — and future capital improvements to convert the Seaholm Intake Facility into an event venue to be managed — and monetized — by TTC.
- Commercial boating-concession rent revenue is now paid to TTC, not the General Fund, valued at $690K in 2026.
- A TTC commemorative bench now costs the public $15K–$30K, and there is no commemorative-bench option provided by the City of Austin.
We aren't saving the park money. We're handing over control of it, and the revenue that comes with it, and trusting a private organization to spend it well — while the City hides the details that would let us check.
Sources
All figures come from the City of Austin's own records and public filings:
- PARD maintenance-cost figure: 03-18-2022 Chute-Canul email to Director McNeeley (City file C259108). → document
- TTC FY2025 total revenue: TTC audited financial statements, year ended 12/31/2025 (City file C324162).→ document
- TTC executive compensation and Schedule L: TTC FY2024 IRS Form 990 (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer).
- Bench program: Sarah Faust email to activists, 2026-06-15; City Memorial Bench Program page; TTC bench-dedication pricing (verified online). → 2021 article → TTC website
- FY26 concession estimate (~$690,000). → document
Diana Prechter is an Austin parks advocate who researches City of Austin park-partnership agreements through public records.
