According to a hired financial consultant, the City of Williamsport Recreation Department should be a service that pays for itself and is cost-neutral.

“That is not your department — at all,” said Gordon Mann, managing director, Public Financial Management, Philadelphia, in part of an operations review of city departments and ways to improve service while also looking to close the gap on the expected 2026 budget deficit.

“Your cost recovery rate is really, really low,” he said.

Mann voiced the questions he thinks should be asked:

• “What is the largest number of people that can be served?” he asked. “What is the most number of people that can be served?”

• “What are the most recreational opportunities that can be provided to people who wouldn’t otherwise have them?”

If that is the mode for the department another question arises and that is how can the department draw on the outside community to expand access?

“Could I get Lycoming College or Pennsylvania College of Technology to put students in the city summer camp program to increase the staff to allow the department to open a program in a different part of the city?” Mann asked.

Then, the cost could be relatively neutral because what the department seems to be focused on is the number of people that it serves and access to those services.

Secondly, is there any facility that is relatively high cost that serves a relatively small amount of people? Mann asked.

If the city is looking to get the most bang for its buck, what if instead of spending $200,000 on a scum gutter at the swimming pool at Memorial Park, it put that money into doing three more sites for the summer camp program?

“Hard call to make, but if the city is going to have a recreation program that is focused on serving the largest number of people and is not about recovering costs, that is something to evaluate,” he said.