Parks in the City of Lathrop are getting an upgrade.

On Monday the Lathrop City Council approved an overhaul to a variety of local parks, agreeing to shell out more than $159,000 in Measure C funds to do things like replace aging playground equipment, install rubber surfacing, add landscaping and replace a dilapidated BBQ at the Senior Center.

That measure C funding will be used to augment funding that is already in place for the playground equipment and rubber surfacing project, which is expected to cost nearly $410,000 by itself.

Voters overwhelmingly supported a measure in 2012 to increase the local sales tax by one cent in order to support things like fire and police coverage as well as city services. Each item approved by the council as a whole was outlined individually in the staff report. Those items are:

uSpending $5,000 for a precast barbecue to replace the aging one at the Lathrop Senior Center.

uOutfitting the new above-ground skate park on 7th Street with additional landscaping for $17,000.

uAdding nearly $143,000 to cover the nearly $410,000 needed to replace aging playground equipment at Mossdale Community Park, Crescent Park, Woodfield Park and Valverde Park.

With the approval the city’s Measure C fund now rests as just over $845,000. When approved by voters it was expected to bring in as much $2 million every year in additional revenue – 40 percent of which automatically goes to the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District to help pay for personnel that were laid off when a parcel tax proposed by the district failed. Lathrop Police Services also uses Measure C funds to bolster staffing levels that were reduced when the City Council found itself facing a massive budget deficit.

The equipment required to turn the condemned 7th Street Skate Park into a working facility was already approved by the council, and the $17,000 for landscaping will improve the overall usability of the area which was designed to give those living on the east side of Interstate 5 the ability to have a complex near their home.