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City Manager's 2005 Budget Memo Page 19 of 27 necessary custodial service in the public areas at all city facilities, I think we will see a lower unit cost for this service. I also think that through a reorganization of contract maintenance services in general, we can maintain close to the same level of clean- liness — especially in public areas — but at a reduced cost. Council Action Recommendation #76: Council motion approv- ing/disapproving the elimination of one full-time Custodian posi- tion in the P&R budget. As you know, there are historical and on-going funding challenges in the Parks and Recreation Department. From sometime in the 1990's to the present, the Parks and Recreation Department has generated operating deficits due to higher-than-projected costs of providing recreation and leisure services along with lower-than-projected reve- nues. It's a double whammy. Many, but not all, of these optimistic cost and revenue estimates relate to the operation of the OVAL. In any event, we find ourselves with a$1.3 million deficit. We have taken steps to prevent this deficit from growing. Plainly, we must be less optimistic about the revenues our Parks and Recreation pro- gramming can generate, and more realistic about the cost of provid- ing that programming. No one is well-served by chronically inaccu- rate program cost and revenue estimates. To reduce if not eliminate this already accrued deficit I recommend that the Council authorize staff to explore the feasibility of selling 10- 15 single-family lots from land currently designated but not devel- oped as park land. I'm thinking specifically of the land identified as part of Ladyslipper Park between Matilda and Materion streets south of their intersection with South Owasso. I'm also thinking of the land which is identified as part of Woodhill Park on the southwest corner