Politics & Government

Senators Unveil Another State Park Funding Plan

Two state senators from the Bay Area unveiled a "sustainable funding proposal" to help keep open 50 state parks that are slated for closure on July 1 because of revenue shortfalls.

 

Two state senators from the Bay Area unveiled a "sustainable
funding proposal" to help keep open 50 state parks that are slated for
closure on July 1 because of revenue shortfalls.
          State Sens. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, and Joseph Simitian,
D-Palo Alto, said the proposal will be heard Wednesday afternoon in the
Senate Budget Committee #2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy
and Transportation chaired by Simitian.
          The state Department of Parks and Recreation in March targeted 70
state parks for closure on July 1 because of an $11 million budget shortfall
this year and an anticipated $22 million budget annual deficit starting July
1.
           Evans and Simitian said 18 of the 70 parks on the closure list
have reached operating agreements with local or state nonprofit agencies.
Evans said 20 of the 70 parks slated for closure are in her district that
includes Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Humboldt counties.
          The senators' 7-point sustainable funding proposal for state parks
includes tapping $10 million annually from the Department of Motor Vehicles'
$500 million motor vehicles account for public roads.
          The money would be used to maintain public roads and facilities in
the state parks and for enforcement of traffic laws on them.
          The State Parks Department has an ongoing $15 million deficit for
roads and trails maintenance and for service provided by park rangers related
to motor vehicles in parks, Simitian and Evans said.
          The funding plan also recommends appropriating $10 million
annually as long-term loans from the Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund for five
years to replace the State Parks and Recreation funding and to complement
bond funding for water quality and septic systems repairs in the state parks.
          The senators also recommended using $21 million, or one-third of
the state funds allocated toward local assistance programs, for trails and
other state parks uses.
          The funding plan requires no new revenue and will cost a
Californian 50-60 cents a year to keep the parks open, Evans and Simitian
said.
          Simitian said Californians are finding it difficult to understand
why the parks are closing and when they are open.
          "This (the state parks) is God's gift to California and we're
talking about shutting the gates," he said.
          "The goal is to get past the year to year crisis management and
put in place a plan to rebuild state parks," Simitian said.
          During a conference call with the media about the funding plan
this morning, Evans said the $70 increase in a state parks pass will cause
lower attendance.
          Both Evans sand Simitian said there is no possible way to close
some parks.
          "You just can't put a fence around thousands of acres. People will
still show up, but what happens then to the litter, the restrooms and
campfire monitoring," Simitian asked.
          By closing a park, the state is saying there will be no services
available, Simitian said.
          Both senators said they are cautiously optimistic the committee
will be receptive Wednesday to the sustainable funding proposal.

Bay City News

Find out what's happening in Sonoma Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here