Rather than force the cash-strapped park to pay more than $60,000 a year for property insurance, the city council voted Monday to include the Gardens in its pooled coverage program run by the Association of Bay Area Governments. ABAG covers 31 municipal agencies to provide insurance on a much cheaper scale, so much so that it will only cost the Gilroy Gardens Board of Directors $9,900 for the same insurance, according to LeeAnn McPhillips, the city's risk manager and human resources director.

As the owner of the land and most of the park's physical stock, the city requires its tenant, the board of directors, to provide full property coverage. The cost-saving insurance arrangement between Gilroy and the board has actually existed since July 1, 2008, the beginning of the fiscal year, but the council's decision Monday night formally approved this setup and gave staff and the park's board the go-ahead to modify the lease agreement.

The board of directors leases the park from Gilroy but then contracts its operations out to Cedar Fair, and the $50,000 savings equals about 2 percent of the $2.87 million in net assets the nonprofit board reported at the end of its 2006-2007 fiscal year, the last period for which data is available.