Guest opinion: Legislative cost-cutting threatens Az parks
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Arizona's state parks system is crumbling, and the Legislature is threatening to apply a sledgehammer to the problem.
Our 30 state park sites preserve some scenic gems, such as Catalina near Tucson, the world-famous Kartchner Caverns near Benson and Red Rock State Park in Sedona.
State parks also protect historic treasures such as Homolovi Ruins near Winslow and the Yuma Territorial Prison.
And a bevy of wildly popular water-oriented parks are at lakes and rivers across the state.
Arizona's state parks welcomed 2.3 million visitors last year.
In exchange for meager state funding, the parks generate about $126 million annually in tourist revenue for their neighboring counties and municipalities, shows a 2002 study by Northern Arizona University.
The Legislature appropriates only $8.2 million to the Parks department from the general fund.
The rest of the department's operating budget and all of its money for park upkeep and improvements comes from funds made up of user fees, various grants and a voter-approved share of the state lottery.
That might be marginally acceptable, but the Legislature won't let those funds alone.
During the last state budget crisis, in 2002-03, the Legislature "swept" more than $40 million out of those funds, leaving the parks with almost no resources for capital spending.
The parks never have recovered, and now the Legislature is proposing to do it again.
Legislative budgeters have proposed a list of parks fund sweeps totaling $38.3 million in this fiscal year to help the state out of its projected $1 billion budget deficit.
Much of that money is designated by law to be used as grants to counties and municipalities for parks and open space.
But the net effect of the sweeps again would leave state parks with no capital.
Clearly, there is a problem of fairness here. The parks system is being asked to contribute to fiscal rescue far out of proportion to its tiny $8.2 million impact on the state budget.
But the real issue is that this scheme will leave the parks system with no resources to stop its steady deterioration.
The Parks department has identified nearly $44 million in urgent capital needs at 27 of the 30 state parks. For example:
• The system is under orders from the Department of Environmental Quality to clean up many of its waste disposal systems. The cleanup would cost $6.5 million, which the Parks department can't afford.
• At Buckskin Mountain on the Colorado River, priceless riverbank is eroding. Stabilization is a $2 million project, but never mind. That park also has a $75,000 wastewater pump that is inching toward failure and would cause the park to close.
• The historic lodge at Tonto Natural Bridge would be a moneymaker if it were refurbished to house paying guests, but a leaking roof, which has gone unrepaired, has turned a cosmetic renovation into a $1 million reconstruction project.
• Significant cracks and structural weaknesses are showing up with regularity in historic buildings such as the Douglas Mansion in Jerome and McFarland Courthouse in Florence. A ceiling at the historic Yuma Quartermaster Station collapsed recently.
The list of capital needs is nearly endless, and the Legislature's strategy is cynical and purposeful.
The strategy appears to be to leave the parks system enough operating money to avoid layoffs but to pilfer the less visible funds that pay for system upkeep and improvements.
What can we do to prevent this? Write, e-mail or call your state senators and representatives and tell them to take the state parks system out of the budget crosshairs.
The future of our park system may be at stake.
Bill Meek is on the board of directors of the Arizona State Parks Foundation, a non-profit group formed to provide financial and other support for state parks. E-mail: billmeek@ fastq.com.
ARIZONIA HAS SOME OF THE GREATEST TREASURES IN THE WORLD AND THE DUMMYS STEAL THE MONEY THAT WOULD PROTECT THEM.
VOTE THEM OUT.
GOOD LUCK!!