Splash City in Collinsville is the most high profile property in the Collinsville Area Recreation District. (Photo courtesy Splash City Water Park)

The Collinsville Area Recreation District (CARD) – which owns and operates the Splash City water park, Arlington Green golf course and eight other parks and recreation facilities in south central Madison County – could soon cease operations.

The tax-supported, special-purpose district is $20 million in debt with little chance of a financial turnaround, according to former CARD board president Andrew Carruthers.

Carruthers is helping to lead an effort to dissolve the 25-year old recreation district, which was announced Oct. 1 outside the district’s headquarters at the water park.

The district encompasses Collinsville as well as parts of and Maryville, Glen Carbon, Pontoon Beach, and unincorporated Madison County.

District residents over the coming weeks will be asked to sign petitions to get dissolution of the district on the March 2016 election ballot, according to Carruthers. Some 5,300 signatures would be needed to place the measure on the ballot.

The specific fate of the district’s water park, golf complex and other properties was not discussed in detail during the press conference at the CARD headquarters; although speakers indicated local municipalities would probably take over most or all of the facilities.

All of the municipalities within the district boundaries currently have parks departments and can maintain recreation facilities more efficiently than a regional special purpose district, Carruthers said.

“Municipalities are better organized at managing parks and recreations,” Carruthers said. “What we want to do is eliminate useless positions for taxpayers. We can do away with an unnecessary layer of government and save taxpayers money.”

However, some attendees at the press conference contended the takeover of the recreation facilities would necessitate tax increases in the local municipalities.

Dissolution of the district would not resolve the entity’s outstanding debt, which also would likely be assumed by the county and the municipalities within the district boundaries, speakers said during the press conference.

District officials plan to meet with municipal officials over the coming weeks to discuss how the takeover of the recreational properties and the debt would be handled.

Under the current terms of the district’s bonded indebtedness, payments are due for the next 19 years.

The effort to dissolve the district is backed by Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan, Maryville Mayor Larry Gulledge, Glen Carbon Mayor Rob Jackstadt, Pontoon Beach Mayor Mike Pagano, all of who attended the press conference, along with board members from those municipalities.

However, the Collinsville Area Chamber of Commerce has reportedly expressed reservations about dissolving the district.

Willoughby Heritage Farm is among the properties owned and operated by the Collinsville Area Recreation District (CARD), which some area officials are seeking to dissolve.

Splash City, the district’s most high-profile property, features Monsoon Mountain, a 50-foot play structures with five water slides of various shapes and size, plus buckets and hoses children can use to squirt each other with water, and a giant 500-gallon bucket on top that douses unsuspecting children and parents below every five minute.

The water park, located at 10 Gateway Drive in Collinsville, also offers an Olympic-size swimming pool, wading pools (one complete with a sandbox for children), two smaller water slides, a Flow Rider inland water surfing facility, party facilities, and cabana rentals.

Located just outside Granite City at 200 Arlington Drive, Arlington Greens is an 18-hole public golf facility with 72,00 yards of golfing area and a par of 72. It includes an all-weather and grass driving range, putting and chipping greens.

Perhaps the district’s most unique holding is Willoughby Heritage Farm, 631 Willoughby Lane in Collinsville. The family-oriented attraction replicates a typical Midwestern farm of the 1930s-through-1950s, complete with live animals, historic structures, restored barns and replicas of period tools.

The facility also has more than three miles of hiking trails through woodlands and prairie. A Kid’s Coral playground, clubhouse, and other improvements at the site were completed this year. Events such as barn dances, hikes and Halloween celebrations are held on the grounds.

In addition, the district operates seven park or sports complexes with a total of 17 sports fields, rinks and courts. Within Collinsville are Schnucks Memorial Park (featuring a fishing pond), Woodland Park (with its 18-hole disc golf course, Glidden Park (with a dirt track for remote controlled cars) picnic-oriented Morris Hills Parks and the sprawling Jaycees Sports Complex with 12 baseball diamonds, plus soccer and football fields. Maryville’s Pleasant Ridge Parks offers space for sports fields, walking and biking trails and horseshoe pits.

CARD also organizes a number of family-oriented events programs including summer and pewee camps, educational programs, a father-daughter dance, an annual baseball event, and holiday celebrations.

For additional information about the district see www.collinsvillerec.com. Questions about dissolution effort can be emailed to dissolvecard@gmail.com.

—  Collinsville Area Rec District targeted in dissolution campaign —