May metropolitan park districts fund a human services program?
No. Metropolitan park districts, as authorized by chapter 35.61 RCW, do not have authority to fund human services programs. RCW 35.61.010 provides in part: A metropolitan park district may be created for the management, control, improvement, maintenance, and acquisition of parks, parkways, boulevards, and recreational facilities. More specific information regarding the authority of a metropolitan park district is set out in RCW 35.61.130. Neither RCW 35.61.010 nor RCW 35.61.130, however, provides sufficiently broad authority to allow for the operation of a human services component; each seems to be limited to more traditional forms of parks and recreation. It is significant that the language of the two statutes makes no reference to human services-type programs. Special purpose districts— a metropolitan park district is a special purpose district—have, under the “Dillon Rule,” only those powers specifically given to them. That rule provides that, unless a power is specifically give
