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BREC Superintendent Corey Wilson says the two tax renewals that voters approved in the November election are proof that the majority of the community supports the work the park system has been doing.
Wilson spoke at Wednesday’s Rotary Club of Baton Rouge meeting, updating the public on BREC’s Imagine Your Parks 3 master plan and the organization’s 2023 and 2024 audits. He also briefly addressed two prefiled bills in the Legislature that would reduce the number of BREC commissioners and restructure the system and move it under the city-parish government umbrella.
“The current structure has been in place for 80 years,” Wilson said of the BREC Commission. “Many of you participated in the development of our community with our 10-year plan that you also funded. If there are no meetings regarding the operation of your park system, that means there are a few people who want to change what everybody says we’re doing a good job at.”
Wilson announced last month that he will step down when his contract expires at the end of January 2026.
BREC, which manages the city-parish’s parks and recreational facilities, had not submitted an audit since 2020, until the 2021 audit was released last August. The 2020 audit was released in November 2021. The audit for the 2022 fiscal year was released in February.
Wilson said Wednesday that BREC should have financial statements and a draft of the 2023 audit in the next 30 to 45 days. The 2024 audit is due on June 30.
“Normally, we would be starting that April 1, but we’re probably not going to start that until June 1, so hopefully we can finish that sometime in August or September,” Wilson says.
Wilson highlighted the park system’s total attendance in 2024, which reached 1.8 million visitors, an 11% increase over 2023. The zoo’s attendance reached 235,435, the highest since 2014.
The organization is in the planning phase of Imagine Your Parks 3. The master plan includes a 10-year vision with plans for parks, trails and programs built on sustainable funding, and a three-year action plan with short-term priorities aligned with measurable strategies. Part of the engagement during the process includes stakeholder meetings, pop-up events, online surveys and public workshops.
“We highlighted the areas that have the highest need. We’re talking about old south Baton Rouge, north Baton Rouge, Gardere, north Sherwood and Florida areas,” Wilson says. “We’ll be focusing on making improvements in those areas over the next 10 years.”
View the Imagine Your Parks 3 plan.
