Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has proposed closing several ice skating rinks throughout Madison in an effort to cut water and maintenance costs.

Although the 2010 operating budget does not specify which rinks are slated for closure, the Parks Department has proposed cutting off funding for the rinks at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Goodman Community Center, Garner Park, Westmorland Park and Warner Park, according to Parks Department Community Relations Coordinator Laura Whitmore. City funding for the more heavily used rinks at Tenney, Vilas and Elver parks would remain intact.

The measure would save the city $38,000, according to spokesperson for Cieslewicz Rachel Strauch-Nelson. Reducing the number of rinks, Strauch-Nelson said, would allow the city to devote its resources to the more popular rinks.

In conjunction with the budget cuts, the mayor has also asked the Parks Department to work with neighborhoods in setting up volunteer-run ice rink maintenance programs to save the currently at-risk rinks. Several ice rinks, including one in the mayor’s neighborhood Hillington Green, have been adopted by residents and successfully maintained under this arrangement, Whitmore said.

Fearing the loss of the rinks, however, residents have already begun voicing opposition to the proposal.

Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, said the response has been “visceral,” reflected by his inbox being flooded by over 50 e-mails regarding ice rinks.

“It’s the sort of thing people in neighborhoods love,” Skidmore said. “It is a very small amount of money and some people think it’s low hanging fruit to get rid of. But, from what I’ve seen through the years, a lot of people use them and there is going to be a lot of resistance.”

Considering the public backlash, Skidmore is doubtful about the proposal’s future, describing it as “dead on arrival.”

“This seems to come up every year,” Skidmore said. “There seems to be a number of people who feel this could save some money until the proposal is made and then the people who use the rinks organize.”

Although Skidmore said he would not support getting rid of ice rinks, he does, however, hope the Parks Department will work with neighborhood associations to help defray costs to the city.

Likewise, Ald. Chris Schmidt, District 11 has received a largely negative response from Westmorland residents, for whom an adopt-a-rink program has been in the works for a while.

“There have been reactions against the idea that Westmorland will be able to put together a volunteer program right away,” Schmidt said. “They feel they need more time to get a volunteer program going that can operate as a model for other rinks.”

Schmidt, who is sponsoring an amendment to restore the funds, said he cannot support the proposal as it currently stands.

“I think it’s laudable to try to save money and to try to find ways to be more efficient with water, but cutting them out in the way the budget proposal does, I don’t think is the best way to handle it,” Schmidt said.