Austin City Council member Ellen Troxclair is continuing her efforts to improve parks in Southwest Austin by allocating $100,000 from her personal office budget toward shade structures and ADA-compliant playground equipment, a press release this morning stated.

Troxclair said the contribution is representative of her intent to use taxpayer dollars in a manner that directly benefits her District 8 constituents.

"I consistently advocate for the city to be more fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars, and it's important that I lead by example," she said. "My staff and I have worked to set aside this savings in order to return it back to the district in the form of improvements to our parks."

The contribution will be split between replacing playground equipment in Dick Nichols District Park with new updated ADA-compliant equipment, as well as adding a shade structure over the playscape in the Latta Tyhurst Neighborhood Park in Villages at Western Oaks.

"These small but important projects are just one way that I am able to give back to our community," Troxclair said. "After learning about the lack of accessible play equipment for children with disabilities in our city, I found it especially important this year to aid the Parks Department with updating our parks with ADA-compliant play structures.”

Allocation of the funds is based on feedback from local residents about which improvements they would most like to see funded as well as budget parameters and needs identified by the city's parks and recreation department. The projects are slated for completion by the end of fiscal year 2018.