A proposal that will give Sacramento County voters an opportunity to decide the future of their regional parks system will be considered Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

After a year of study, the Grassroots Working Group, a committee of volunteers organized by the Save the American River Association, has offered recommendations for rescuing the regional parks system.

Our beloved parks are falling apart due to a lack of funding for operation and maintenance. This situation will be aggravated if another round of budget cuts being considered is implemented.

The Board of Supervisors is facing great challenges with funding shortfalls, and competition is fierce for the county's dwindling financial resources. Nevertheless, the regional parks system needs only a minuscule part of the budget to maintain basic services. In good years, it received about three-tenths of 1 percent of county general funds. All county functions have been cut in recent years, but the regional parks system has suffered disproportionately. Funding for our parks is just not faring well, in competition with other government services, even though the public believes parks are essential to its quality of life and for future generations.

Recent actions clearly show the county wants to get out of the parks business. The county leased Gibson Ranch to a private operator and the Effie Yeaw Nature Center to a nonprofit group. These types of solutions just won't work for the jewel of Sacramento, the American River Parkway, nor many of our other regional parks.

The Grassroots Working Group studied all potential options for governing the parks system and methods for funding it. With the help of professional consultants and local experts, a well thought-out approach is recommended: a new regional park district similar to the very successful East Bay Regional Park System. It would be funded by a one-tenth of 1 percent increase in the sales tax, or just 1 penny for every $10 of taxable sales. Other fund sources currently available to the regional parks system would remain available to the new district so that new funds don't merely supplant existing county funds.

Our regional parks system is the Sacramento area's calling card. People identify with the American River Parkway, a nationally and even internationally known trail, boating and natural resource area. Amgen Tour of California bicycle teams train here, and people come from all over California for Eppie's Great Race and other athletic events and casual outings. Businesses locate here because their employees and families enjoy the river environment and park facilities. Sacramento truly has a river running through it, and not just one but two. The public can't access the rivers without an intact parks system.

We must provide for the safety of our visitors through an adequate ranger force and well-maintained facilities. No one will use the parks if they are not patrolled and crime rises. In the 2010-11 fiscal year, half of the already minimal ranger staff was cut, and more reductions are on the way. Likewise, maintenance staff has been cut to where facilities are deteriorating, landscaping can't be cared for, trash and litter can't be kept under control and restrooms can't be cleaned often enough.

Further budget cuts are going to make these issues much more noticeable. Our hardworking parks staff is used to doing more with less but has reached its limit.

Doing nothing will give up the great heritage provided to us by William B. Pond and other visionaries who worked to develop and defend this park system. This year is Save the American River Association's 50th anniversary and a turning point. Will we provide for a new regional park district with a stable funding source to continue and enhance the system? Or, will we be the generation that did not have the foresight to protect and build upon the vision of the founders of the regional parks system, which includes the American River Parkway?

In a February 2011 poll conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz and Associates, 62 percent of Sacramento County voters said that regional parks are extremely or very important to quality of life, and 73 percent said they would support an increase in the sales tax. Voters also strongly supported – 79 percent – a regional park system that serves the entire region.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will be asked to support legislation to allow the voters to have a chance to decide in November 2012 if they want to establish a new independent park district with a dedicated fund source to protect Sacramento's greatest asset. This board vote and the proposed legislation do not mandate anything, they only keep the process moving forward so that the public can have its say in 2012. We urge all to request that the Board of Supervisors vote to approve this measure.

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Charlie Willard is a member of the Grassroots Working Group and is on the board of Pathways to Recreation, which raises funds to support the Sacramento County Therapeutic Recreation Program.

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