ANDERSON, Ind. — In the midst of a city budget crisis, some departments have taken bigger hits than others. One such department, Parks and Recreation, has seen the biggest drop in funding for 2010 than any other city sector.

The parks department will go from a budget of about $2 million in 2009 to about $750,000 in 2010, Superintendent Fred Reese said, a 62.5 percent drop.

City officials hope to decide within a couple of weeks how they will handle the loss of funding in the parks department, which could result in layoffs, a decrease in the number of parks in the city or a loss of services.

“Parks are responsible for 51 properties,” Board of Public Works Chairman Greg Graham said. “That needs to be reviewed because that’s a ton of properties for a community of our size to have to maintain.”

City officials also will look at partnering with other groups, such as churches and nonprofits, to sponsor activities in the parks and likely will have to lay off some employees.

“I’m certainly anticipating layoffs,” Graham said. “I don’t think there’s any question there’s going to be some; it’s just a question of how many.”

The parks department also plans to look at where it can cut unnecessary spending, such as with some chemicals it uses, and where it can become more efficient to save money, such as keeping the lights off more often at the city’s skate park, said Reese. Programs that are popular and can maintain themselves, such as football and Grandview Golf Course, likely will remain relatively intact, he said.

“We’re facing some economic times that caused us to have to look at some of our programming and see which ones are the more citizen-used programs that we have,” Graham said. “We’re very positive. You haven’t seen any letdown in services even though we’re faced with these times. We’re going to continue providing services and doing programs.

“It is what it is. It’s already been voted on by the council and that’s what we got.”

Parks are important to quality of life in Anderson, Reese said.

“Especially in these times given the economic challenges of families, it affects our communities and families,” he said. “You have situations where a lot of your families probably have more use at our parks because they’re unable to do vacations. Our programs and activities reach out to a broad spectrum of people. Parks is such an icon when it comes to providing quality of life.”

Parks also serve as an economic development tool, Reese said. Although economic development and quality of life are high on the current city administration’s list, the city budget is suffering from a 25 percent loss in revenue thanks, largely, to statewide property tax caps and declining assessed valuation.

“I think it’s a matter of trying to prioritize what revenue we’re going to have with providing essential city services,” Graham said. “We are down to the nitty-gritty here.”

Although the parks funds is not tied to the city’s general fund, they all are tied to the same tax rate, so reducing either fund has a positive effect on all the city’s funding, Graham said.

The parks department had a large budget cut for 2009, as well, Park Board President Darin Foltz said, losing about $500,000 and having to cut three positions.