How to Save State Parks
by Kristina Rasmussen With the state billions of dollars in the hole, Illinois’s network of state parks is facing budget cuts: The Wildlife Prairie Park subsidy is being wiped out as part of a $2.4 million reduction in lump sums at the Department of Natural Resources. DNR will also reduce vacant positions and defer “non-critical” maintenance at...
With the state billions of dollars in the hole, Illinois’s network of state parks is facing budget cuts:
The Wildlife Prairie Park subsidy is being wiped out as part of a $2.4 million reduction in lump sums at the Department of Natural Resources. DNR will also reduce vacant positions and defer “non-critical” maintenance at state parks.
Cheryl Chumley writes at American.com that various states are coming up with unique approaches to keeping their parks open during budget troubles, including privatization and corporate sponsorship:
With no economic boon in sight, perhaps it’s time to consider different operating models. One idea that meets stiff political resistance is privatization. Utah’s Privatization Policy Board is currently looking at recommendations to give the state legislature about privatizing some of the state’s 43 parks.
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Another possible solution is brewing in Georgia and New Hampshire: corporate sponsorships. Verizon is reportedly joining forces with the Boy Scouts to fix up trails and bridges in Georgia’s state parks. Verizon provides the tools; the Boy Scouts, the labor.
Chumley notes that charging higher user fees might be easier for pols to stomach:
Not all are on board with the idea of commercializing public parks, however. For them, an easier solution to stomach might be adjusting user fees. Some parks have already taken this path. Hawaii, for instance, only collected $2.4 million in user fees between 2008 and 2009, but its parks’ operating expenses came in at $9 million. Legislators must have seen the unsustainability of this fiscal situation, and several parks that weren’t even charging entrance or parking fees recently announced the intent to start. Other states have followed suit, and within the past few weeks parks in Louisana started charging $4 entrance fees, up from $2, while those in Idaho added a $3 fee to take a shower and a $10 fee for an overnight stay.
More states should do the same.