County supervisors will discuss the future of regional parks on Tuesday after hearing recommendations from a local group trying to rescue the parks from extinction.

The Grassroots Working Group (GWG), an independent citizen-volunteer group, was formed in 2010 to explore ways to keep area parks open without further straining the county budget.

“We consider the current condition of the County Regional Parks Department to be beyond critical,” wrote Charlea Moore, an Elverta resident and Grassroots Working Group member, in a letter to the Board of Supervisors.

“Something must be done very soon in order to rescue our regional parks and open space system, or the result will be an enormous loss for the entire region,” Moore said.

At the May 24 Board of Supervisors meeting, GWG recommended creating a new regional parks district that would be run by an elected seven-member panel instead of the Board of Supervisors.

“Our ultimate goal is to have a viable, stable, long-term funding and governance solution to rescue our parks and open spaces,” said Warren Truitt, president of the Save the American River Association, the lead organization of the Grassroots Working Group.

Since the current supervisors have many “competing demands” on their time and resources, having an independently elected board of directors would create a more accountable governance structure with park issues as “the only agenda of the new agency,” according to the GWG executive summary report.

County staff reports indicate the proposed new parks district would be financed by existing revenue sources, a county contribution and a one tenth of one percent sales tax increase.

An increase in sales tax to fund the new district requires taxpayer approval, however.

The Sacramento County Taxpayers League responded to the GWG recommendations in May with a letter opposing any tax increase and urged the Board of Supervisors to not allow the measure to go before the voters.

“Our local economy and your constituents continue to suffer from a sky high unemployment rate and significantly reduced incomes,” representatives wrote in the letter. “Now is the worst possible time to further burden your constituents with higher taxes.”

According to the Taxpayers League letter, although the GWG proposal was “motivated by good intentions,” it was poorly conceived.

Taxpayers League Executive Director Bob Blymyer said Monday the county needs to get rid of its deficit and reduce spending to a sustainable level before considering a tax increase.

“On the surface, (the GWG proposal) sounds pretty good,” Blymyer said. “But, until there is a dedicated funding mechanism that the Board of Supervisors can buy into, it isn’t a workable proposal.”

Blymyer said a more sensible approach would be the formation of a park district that covers the entire region.

“City, county, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova – (We should) have them all under one umbrella,” Blymyer said. “There could be significant financial savings from an umbrella organization.”

Interim County Executive Steve Szalay and Robert Leonard, Municipal Services Agency administrator, will present a report of their review of the GWG proposal along with staff recommendations for further action at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

The Board of Supervisors meets various Tuesdays and Wednesdays each month at the County Administration office, 700 H St

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.