Cost of maintaining city-owned play structures continues to exceed budget: report

A new city report is shedding light on the challenges of maintaining playgrounds in Winnipeg.

A new report is shedding light on the growing cost of maintaining the city’s playgrounds.

According to a report prepared by city administrative staff, the cost for playground maintenance has exceeded its budget in recent years due to the city’s growing parks inventory.

As a result, the city won’t be able to take on any more playgrounds from school divisions, which currently maintain about 190 play structures on school grounds throughout the city.

For its part, the city takes care of 545 playgrounds—106 of which are in or beside school yards.

All require regular inspection and maintenance to keep them safe, the costs of which have ballooned past the budget in recent years because of the growing inventory.

“Playground safety maintenance is performed with existing resources resulting in resources being taken away from maintenance to other park amenities and/or park services,” the report said.

On the bright side, only three per cent of the city’s playgrounds are in poor condition and none are in very poor condition.

The report recommends dedicating resources toward the sites in parks to prioritize playground safety.

The city’s Riel community committee will review the report next week.