If Sacramento youngsters have pools to splash in this summer, they likely will have a grocery store chain to thank rather than their city government.

Save Mart Supermarket officials are scheduled to announce today a fund-raising campaign to generate $1 million – enough to open half the city's 12 swimming pools and all of its wading pools this summer.

It's the latest and largest example of businesses and neighborhood groups bailing out a cash-starved city unable to keep pools open, parks maintained and community centers operating.

With Sacramento entering its sixth straight year of large budget deficits, officials are asking those groups to fund – and in some cases operate – amenities once taken for granted.

"Five years from now we may look back and say this was a temporary thing," said Councilman Steve Cohn. "But I think we have to figure that for the foreseeable future, this is the new normal."

Save Mart will match up to $500,000 in contributions collected at area stores over the next two months. Store officials plan to hand over the donations to the city in April, in time for the city to prepare pools for summer openings. Without that funding, city pools are once again in danger of being closed this summer.

Many pools have been closed since 2009, as the city relied on outside charity to keep facilities open on a part-time basis. Neighborhood associations have stepped in for some pools, but many have remained padlocked for three years.

City budget cuts also have been felt at parks, where armies of volunteers have organized to maintain some of the city's recreational jewels, such as William Land Park and McKinley Park. Over the past few years, the city's budget for parks maintenance has been cut in half.

Save Mart officials said they recognize that public agencies are relying on more help from the private sector.

"We would love to see the community and area businesses really jump into this and establish a track record of what needs to be done," said Steve Junqueiro, Save Mart's president and chief operating officer. "Pools are essential. It's a gathering place, a community and part of the Valley experience."

City Manager John Shirey said Sacramento has sought help from the private sector before. But, he said, "The recession has stepped up the number and frequency of those partnerships."

"Having pools might be considered something of a luxury," he said. "But we see this as part of a program to try to do something to address the needs of young people in our community who don't have enough outlets."

Other partnerships have emerged in the city's tough budget cycle.

In east Sacramento, where the historic Clunie Community Center in McKinley Park serves 100,000 people each year, neighborhood activists raised $45,000 to keep the facility open for the next year. Neighbors are forming a nonprofit organization to run the facility after that.

Most other community centers and clubhouses are fully or partially leased to nonprofit groups. And after the doors were nearly shut at centers during last year's budget talks, city officials are working with other community organizations to take on the full operation of those facilities.

"If it wasn't for volunteerism, our city would be completely untenable," said resident Jeff Harris. He headed the River Park Neighborhood Association when it raised money in 2009 to keep the pool open in Glenn Hall Park.

Sacramento County has entered into similar partnerships, turning over operation of several parks to nonprofit groups or other governments.

Ceding control to the private sector isn't always smooth. In some cases, private groups have changed the rules for public assets.

A spat last month between the Sacramento United Soccer Club and the Sacramento Valley Rugby Foundation led to a massive rugby tournament abruptly being relocated to Rancho Cordova from Sacramento's Granite Regional Park. Sacramento United now maintains and runs the playing fields for the city, and it said the rugby tournament left those fields a mess last year. The rugby tournament was denied access to Granite fields, leaving event organizers surprised that the city did not control its own park.

Such hiccups aside, city officials seem convinced they have a new model for keeping their parks and pools open.

"Quite frankly, we're going to need a lot more of this in the future because of our budget," Cohn said. "I'd like to think it's just temporary, but this may be something we're looking at for the long term."

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