In development
Downtown Cary Park, D.T.C. Extravagant Spending
DTCP- Detrimentally Taxing Citizens Perpetually
by Mary Collins
Downtown Cary Park is a case study in extravagant and over the top spending in the name of a world class destination to spur downtown growth and business development in Downtown Cary. Spending was at least $69M, likely more, but the budget for Phase II of that park, as promoted in the 2019 Bond for Parks and Recreation, was $50M. Cary voters who cast a vote to approve the Bond were promised from the town staff and council that the budget would be held to $50M. Without going back to the citizens for an okay to spend more, at least $19M in funds were taken from elsewhere to pay for this project. In addition to this overspend, the legal language of the 2019 Bond omitted mention of ongoing operating costs for the park.
Two key breaches of trust and faith resulted in spending a lot of money. These are costly to us in our Cary property taxes. In FY 2027 $5.8M is budgeted for the DTCP operations. Most recently in FY 2026 Recommended budgets the past few years have been more than $6M. Actual spending has landed at just under that amount. Local Cary property taxes have increased during each budget cycle, and are now permanently expected to increase every year projected to increase each year by an increase each year via smoothing. The Mayor and Council have voted to support this, and agreed to this as recommended by our staff.
DTCP- (or Detrimentally Taxing Citizens Perpetually), happened in part for reasons given by our former town manager Sean Stegall in his book “Top of the Arc”. Stegall told staff and town council he wanted to spend big. This culture of excessive spending was not limited to one man, nor was it needed to achieve an excellent central Cary park.
The land that was engineered into the DTCP and other structures including the library, parking deck, and The Walker, was established to prevent or mitigate downstream flooding of Walnut Creek. The long standing basic design, including the mature trees that were there, accomplished this well. The costly and elaborate detention pond water feature that is visible in the park, involved big spending to do that, and also to prepare for the large-scale development downtown. Why does this matter? The cost of the park and the design were over the top to make possible the Imagine Cary 2040 plan. These decisions were not transparent, nor the only approach that could have been used for an excellent park and downtown.
DTCP is credited with millions or more of new, added revenue coming to Cary without detailed accounting to back the claims. Is the $6M of annual operations being fully offset? Is the Bond repayment or the funds taken from elsewhere spending over the budgeted $50M to build the park being recouped? Without transparent and clear accounting, we do not know.
More information is here about Cary property taxes (hyperlink to property taxes). The TOC Mayor and council have complete control over how it sets the budget, and how much it collects via just one factor, the property tax rate. Excessive spending is one reason why Cary property taxes are increased and are scheduled to continue to increase. DTCP is one specific example.
Our council members, Mayor and top paid staff, were well aware of the Downtown Cary Park project from Phase I to completion of Phase II. The excesses were right in front of them, but they did not stop it, nor have they significantly reduced the ongoing annual costs. They were more than willing to unanimously support the 2019 Bond, and the debt it generated. They were also willing to find additional financing as construction costs went well beyond estimates.