Analysis: Town and Schools
Parks & Recreation — a $141k department with a $85k fund of its own
What the department is voted, what its own fee fund holds and has done since FY2011, what the registration system took in for FY2025, and what a contractor bid to keep the grounds. Four documents of four kinds, kept apart. Every account the Parks Commission owns.
lunenburgbudgetproject.org — written by the Lunenburg Budget Project, an independent tool for residents. Not affiliated with the Town of Lunenburg, the School Committee or the school district. The data this page is computed from: /data/parks.json
What this report counts
DOLLARS from four kinds of document kept apart: the FY26 accounting printouts (evidence), the annual reports’ fund schedule (read and tied; FY2024–FY2025 transcribed), the registration system’s sales (a printout, not the books), and a bid (stated). Not what the parks cost all in.
The parks’ own fee fund held $84,818 at 31 March 2026 — 60% of the $140,759 voted for the year.
Money the parks may spend without a vote; it took in $7,616 and spent $9,766 in nine months of FY2026.
The general fund voted the department $140,759 for FY2026 as revised and $113,350 of it was spent by year end (the FY26 year-end budget report, department 650). Beside that, fund 1500 — programme and beach fees, kept in a revolving fund the department spends on the parks that raise them — carried $84,818 at the end of March, after $7,616 in and $9,766 out since July. A revolving balance is not a surplus the town can move: it is committed to the purpose that raised it, by the vote that created the fund.
What it rests on sources/town-ledgers/fund-balances/special-revenue-fy2026-p09.xlsx, the row for fund 1500 (ACCOUNT BALANCE, REVENUE, EXPENDITURE, FUND BALANCE, credits shown as amounts, identity asserted); the FY26 year-end expense report, department 650 summed from its accounts.
What it does not show What the balance is spoken for, or what the last quarter of FY2026 did. The report stops at 31 March.
The fund stood at $10,019 in FY2011, fell to $0 in FY2015, and was $91,726 by 30 June 2025.
Thirteen years read and tied, two transcribed — and FY2025 does not chain to the FY26 opening.
The annual reports print the fund as “Park User Fees” under Parks & Recreation: balance forward, receipts, disbursements and balance carried, FY2011 to FY2023, every year tying to the report’s own totals. FY2023 closed at $58,200. The FY2024 and FY2025 reports print a balance only, transcribed here; FY2025’s $91,726 is not the $86,967 the FY26 report opens with, and nothing in the archive says why — an audit adjustment, an encumbrance, or a misread digit all fit.
What it rests on sources/data/special-revenue-read.csv (fund “Park User Fees”, FY2011–FY2023); sources/data/special-revenue-funds.csv rows 1500 for FY2024 and FY2025, column v2; the FY26 report’s ACCOUNT BALANCE.
What it does not show Receipts and spending for FY2024 and FY2025: the reports for those years print a balance and no flow.
The registration system recorded $47,784 in FY2025: 650 programme places and 164 beach passes.
50% of it — $23,972 — was paid by non-residents; the largest programme was Snapology-Stem Programs at $17,060.
Two printouts from MyRec, the system the department sells through, both footing to their own totals: $38,956 across 17 programmes, $8,828 across four membership lines. Non-residents were 390 of 814 registrations and paid $23,972. That is what the system recorded, not what reached the town’s books — the FY2025 fund report that would show the deposits is not in the archive, and the general fund’s REC FEES line was estimated at zero for FY2026.
What it rests on sources/data/parks-myrec-sales-fy2025.csv, extracted by scripts/extract_parks_myrec.py from the two MyRec reports and checked against their printed totals.
What it does not show Refunds, waivers, or what the programmes cost to run — a sales report is the fee side only. And a 2024 season sold partly before 1 July 2024 is undercounted in this window.
Those are the answers this report could reach from the documents behind it. If the one you came for is not among them, ask us — no name or email needed.
Read the fund by year, the sales, the bid, the accountsThe full version5 min
The other findings
Grounds upkeep at six parks was bid at $44,590 a year — 32% of what the department is voted.
$20,975 is Marshall Park alone. A bid is an offer; what was paid is in the ledger, not here.
The bid sheet prices mowing, weeding, turf, clean-ups and infield work per park for the year from 1 July 2024: Fitzgerald Field $9,875; McNally Field $7,500; Marshall Park $20,975; Memorial Park $2,640; Town Beach $2,300; Wallis Park $1,300. The total is the sheet’s own six location totals summed. It is a vendor’s figure (stated), and the FY2026 appropriation it is set against is $140,759.
What it rests on sources/town-ledgers/purchase-orders/po-closed-fy2025-parks-grounds-bid.pdf, the Location Total line, read from the text layer and footed.
What it does not show Whether this bid was accepted, or what the town paid for grounds work in any year: the FY2024 Parks budget report with its journal detail is in the archive as an image and has not been read.
The Park Revolving Fund, FY2011 to today
The annual reports print it as “Park User Fees”: balance forward, receipts, disbursements, balance carried. FY2011–FY2023 are read off the page and tie to each report’s own totals; FY2024 and FY2025 print a balance only and are transcribed; FY2026 (starred) is the town’s own report through 31 March. FY2025’s balance does not chain to the FY26 opening, and the page says so rather than picking one.
- held
- in
- out
| year | forward | receipts | disbursed | held | grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2011 | $9,637 | $16,024 | $15,642 | $10,019 | read |
| FY2012 | $10,019 | $22,380 | $21,745 | $10,654 | read |
| FY2013 | $10,654 | $10,453 | $15,534 | $5,573 | read |
| FY2014 | $5,573 | $16,343 | $18,120 | $3,795 | read |
| FY2015 | $3,795 | $13,069 | $16,864 | $0 | read |
| FY2016 | $0 | $11,721 | $11,721 | $0 | read |
| FY2017 | $0 | $11,899 | $7,841 | $4,058 | read |
| FY2018 | $4,058 | $12,811 | $5,231 | $11,638 | read |
| FY2019 | $11,638 | $19,180 | — | $30,818 | read |
| FY2020 | $30,818 | $8,516 | $6,872 | $32,463 | read |
| FY2021 | $32,463 | $48,797 | $14,816 | $66,444 | read |
| FY2022 | $66,444 | $21,152 | $21,177 | $66,419 | read |
| FY2023 | $66,419 | $36,915 | $45,134 | $58,200 | read |
| FY2024 | — | — | — | $72,564 | transcribed |
| FY2025 | — | — | — | $91,726 | transcribed · does not chain to FY26 |
| FY2026 (to March) | $86,967 | $7,616 | $9,766 | $84,818 | evidence |
What the registration system recorded, FY2025
MyRec’s two sales reports for 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025, each footing to the totals it prints. A registration system is not the ledger: this is the fee side of what was sold, and where it was deposited is on no document we hold.
| programme | residents | non-residents | places | residents paid | non-residents paid | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Lunenburg's Great Cardboard Boat Race | 3 | 4 | 7 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Best Soccer | 16 | 11 | 27 | $3,040 | $2,090 | $5,130 |
| Best Soccer- Summer Clinic | 1 | 0 | 1 | -$190 | $0 | -$190 |
| Couch To 5K | 8 | 0 | 8 | $280 | $0 | $280 |
| Game Time Training Basketball Clinic | 1 | 2 | 3 | -$160 | -$320 | -$480 |
| Gentle Flow Yoga | 4 | 12 | 16 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Ma Sports Leagues School Vacation Programs | 30 | 14 | 44 | $4,600 | $2,000 | $6,600 |
| Nrwa Summertime Eco-Adventures | 4 | 0 | 4 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Science Heroes | 15 | 15 | 30 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Snapology-STEM Programs | 49 | 59 | 108 | $6,501 | $10,560 | $17,061 |
| Swim Lessons 2024 | 19 | 1 | 20 | $360 | $0 | $360 |
| Swim Lessons 2025 | 98 | 47 | 145 | $2,310 | $1,170 | $3,480 |
| The Painted Goat- Adult And Youth Workshops! | 13 | 8 | 21 | $570 | $405 | $975 |
| Thursday Night Volleyball- Advanced | 12 | 19 | 31 | $480 | $780 | $1,260 |
| Thursday- Intermediate Pickleball | 7 | 28 | 35 | $160 | $1,120 | $1,280 |
| Wednesday Afternoon Pickleball | 27 | 71 | 98 | $600 | $2,130 | $2,730 |
| Wildlife Encounters- Junior Zookeepers | 30 | 22 | 52 | $280 | $190 | $470 |
| programme | residents | non-residents | places | residents paid | non-residents paid | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Beach Passes | 26 | 3 | 29 | $1,509 | $175 | $1,684 |
| 2024 Season Pass-Family Add On $5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | $5 | $15 | $20 |
| 2025 Beach Passes | 60 | 71 | 131 | $3,466 | $3,614 | $7,080 |
| Lunenburg Employee Membership | 0 | 0 | 0 | $0 | $44 | $44 |
What keeping the grounds was bid at
A contractor’s bid sheet for year one from 1 July 2024, per park. A bid is an offer, on the vendor’s authority; what the town paid is in the FY2024 budget report’s journal, held as an image and not yet read.
| park | mowing | year one, all work |
|---|---|---|
| Fitzgerald Field | $2,975 | $9,875 |
| McNally Field | $2,550 | $7,500 |
| Marshall Park | $8,500 | $20,975 |
| Memorial Park | $850 | $2,640 |
| Town Beach | — | $2,300 |
| Wallis Park | — | $1,300 |
| Six parks | $44,590 |
The department’s other accounts
- 1523 Park Gift Fund — $1,268 held; it moved $28,498 in its busiest year on record
- 1529 Skate Park Fund — $197 held · special-revenue
- 1532 Marshall Pk Restoration Fund — $125 held · special-revenue
- 8126 Playground Fund — $95 held · trust
- 3108 11/22 Marshall Park Design — $54,264 held · capital
What this report cannot say
- What the registration system’s $47,784 became on the town’s books — which fund it was deposited to, and when. The FY2025 special-revenue report and fund 1500’s journal would say.
- Why the fund’s 30 June 2025 balance in the annual report ($91,726) is not the FY26 report’s opening balance ($86,967).
- What the parks cost to keep in any year: the FY2024 budget report with its journal detail is held as an image and not yet read; FY2025’s is not held.
- Whether the grounds bid was accepted.
What would close these
The FY2025 special-revenue report and the journal detail for fund 1500 — the same report the archive holds for fund 1301 — and a text-layer copy of the FY2024 Parks budget report. Every limit on this page is also a row in what we cannot answer, which is the single registry the records request reads from.
parks-program-financials-fy2025-myrec.pdf
the department’s registration system, by records request
table MyRec Program Sales Report, FY2025 · 89 KB
sha256 d37d6d14553123ab…
parks-membership-sales-fy2025-myrec.pdf
the same
table MyRec Membership Sales Report, FY2025 · 46 KB
sha256 c93147feab5f0160…
po-closed-fy2025-parks-grounds-bid.pdf
a contractor, by records request
table Grounds-maintenance bid, year one from 1 July 2024 · 24 KB
sha256 ea3d724fe3427571…
glytdbud-expense-fy2024-p13-gf-parks.pdf
MUNIS, by records request; image only
table FY2024 year-to-date budget report, Parks, with journal detail · 2.8 MB
sha256 551f5abd194ed05d…
special-revenue-fy2026-p09.xlsx
MUNIS, by records request
table FY26 special-revenue report, 31 March 2026 · 55 KB
sha256 4b9777d83c747c1c…
glytdbud-expense-fy2026-p12-gf-all.xlsx
MUNIS, by records request
table FY26 year-end budget report, general fund · 72 KB
sha256 215dd64f597f1f2d…
Every other report
Every analysis this project has written, in one index, is at reports.