The Chicago Park District held a public hearing Wednesday on its 2022 budget recommendations, which include funding for a new Office of Protection tasked with investigating allegations of discrimination, harassment and abuse.

       With the $510.9 million budget, Park District officials said Wednesday they anticipate a return to full pre-pandemic operations. The plan is available on the Park District’s website.

       The budget represents a roughly 6% increase from the 2021 operating budget, which was curtailed due to programming limited by the COVID-19 pandemic.

       It includes a property tax increase totaling $4.3 million, which interim Superintendent and CEO Rosa Escare？o said would work out to approximately $4 in additional taxes for the average homeowner. The Park District will not raise program fees in 2022, the agency said in a news release Wednesday.

       The budget recommendations also include about $617,000 in funding for the Office of Protection, which will be responsible for “continuing to train” park employees to identify and prevent misconduct, according to the budget recommendations.

       The creation of the Office of Protection comes in the wake of widespread criticism of the agency’s response to the lifeguard abuse scandal that was first reported by WBEZ.

       Last week, Park District commissioners released the results of an independent investigation that detailed the agency’s mishandling of the lifeguard sexual abuse claims. Following the release of the report Nov. 2, Escare？o said she had fired three high-level Park District managers. And on Wednesday, Avis LaVelle announced her resignation as park board president shortly after the board discussed next year’s budget.

       Escare？o took on the top job at the agency in October, after former Superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly was forced to resign.

       “While we take great pride in our workforce, I know that we have failed too many of our staff and eroded trust with the community,” Escare？o said at Wednesday’s meeting. “This will not be tolerated. This moment requires action, change, reform and vision.”

       According to budget recommendations, the office will be staffed by a director, a legal investigator and a staff assistant. In an email, Park District spokesperson Michele Lemons said the work to shape the office was ongoing.

       The greatest increase in expenses in the budget comes in salaries and wages, Escare？o wrote in a letter enclosed in the budget recommendations. Those increases are due in part to wage increases, an increase in the minimum wage and an end to a hiring freeze, she wrote.

       The budget includes an $8.8 million bump in pension funding as part of a four-year pension ramp-up that began in 2020.

       In other parks programming, sports leagues affected by the pandemic, such as Girls Fast Pitch Softball and Inner City Hoops, will make a comeback in the new year.

       New programming includes a citywide wrestling program and a youth soccer program for kids between the ages of 6 and 12, which will serve 1,000 children in its first year.

       Major renovations are planned at Garfield Park. The Park District says it will “address drainage systems” in the park’s Gold Dome, as well as make improvements to the pools, pathways and pavilions at the park’s water court and gardens.

       Also slated for 2022 is the completion of the AIDS Garden in Lincoln Park.

       Keith Haring’s Self Portrait sculpture was first installed in the park in 2019. When completed, the AIDS Garden will feature a grove of ginkgo trees, a perennial garden and “guided markers and milestones through a variety of intimate and collective garden spaces all providing a sensory nature experience,” the Park District says.

       tsoglin@chicagotribune.com

       Chicago Park District presents 2022 budget recommendations, including a new Office of Protection

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