Arizona Legislature

Budget plan avoids more Arizona state park closures

by

[Source: Casey Newton, Arizona Republic] — The state will likely avoid closing additional parks under a budget plan adopted Monday by the Arizona State Parks Board.  The board voted to adopt a $21.4 million budget that will preserve most hours of operations at the state’s 30 parks.  The parks system closed McFarland and Jerome state historic parks earlier this year after lawmakers slashed its budget by more than $36 million in the past year.  The parks board will meet next month to set new priorities and determine whether the parks will be reopened.

“It’s dark days,” said Renee Bahl, the parks system’s executive director.  “The bottom line is there’s just no more money.”

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, which also closed as part of cost-saving measures for the parks system, re-opened on weekends this summer with funding from the town of Payson.  The state’s agreement with Payson ended Sunday, and officials were hoping to negotiate an extension this week. Otherwise, the park will close.  [Note: To read the full article, click here]

Arizona lawmakers consider selling Capitol buildings, Kartchner Caverns State Park

by

[Source: Examiner.com] — Desperate for cash, Arizona state lawmakers are considering selling the House and Senate buildings, then leasing them back over several years before assuming ownership again.  Dozens of other state buildings may also be sold off and leased back as the state grapples with a huge budget deficit.  Other “candidate properties” range from state prisons and the mental hospital to run-of-the-mill state office buildings and Kartchner Caverns State Park, the crown jewel of the system.

Under the complex financial arrangement, state government services would continue without interruption while the state picks up a cash infusion estimated by Capitol number-crunchers at $735 million.  [Note: To read the full story, click here]

27 Arizona State Parks close at Midnight, July 1 due to budget impasse

by

(Phoenix, AZ — June 30, 2009, updated at 7 pm) – The Arizona State Parks department asked campers to leave 13 State Parks’ campgrounds at 4 p.m. today in order to close down the parks before the midnight deadline for closing all Arizona State Parks. Parks will be closed and not reopen until the department has operating authority.

In order to reduce the economic impact for two rural communities, the Arizona State Parks department staff have signed special use applications with the City of Show Low and the City of Lake Havasu. These agreements would allow each City to operate, monitor, maintain and control the parks.  Show Low’s Fool Hollow Lake State Recreation Area and Lake Havasu State Park (day use only, no camping) will operate under these special use agreements through July 5th or will end when the State Parks’ budget is authorized. Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park is also open.

These permits would include the legal and safe parking of all visitors, use and function of the launch ramps, access and maintenance of the restroom facilities, trash pickup, emergency medical response and public safety.  The agreements begin at midnight on June 30 until July 5th.

If there is no operating budget by July 1, 2009 most parks will be closed.  For days the agency is closed, all reservations for Camping Cabins, Yurts, and campsites will be cancelled, and can be rescheduled or refunded.  For days the agency is closed, all Cave Tours at Kartchner Caverns State Park will be cancelled, and can be rescheduled or refunded.

For more information about the 30 State Parks, other hiking opportunities such as hiking all the 550 State Trails, off-highway vehicle trails and other outdoor recreational and cultural opportunities in Arizona, see the website at the Arizona State Parks department at www.AZStateParks.com or call (602) 542-4174.

Arizona special election costs could exceed $11 million

by
Gov. Jan Brewer in her former role as Secretary of State, overseer of elections (Photo: Paul O'Neill, EV Tribune)

[Source: Jeremy Duda, Arizona Capitol Times] — Gov. Jan Brewer is asking the Legislature to put two items on the ballot for a special election that she believes would help close Arizona’s budget gap and revitalize the state’s economy.  But those proposals come with costs of their own.  The Secretary of State’s Office has drawn up three scenarios for special elections in which voters would decide whether to temporarily raise taxes and overhaul the Voter Protection Act of 1998.  The special election, if approved by the Legislature, could cost the state nearly $12 million… for a number of expenses, including the ballots, promotional literature, Election Day personnel, training, voter outreach, and early-ballot processing.

  • According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the first scenario, a regular November-style election, would be the most costly, with an $11.7 million price tag.  That option would require all polling places in the state to open on Election Day, with 120 days notice and a 33-day early-voting period.
  • The second option, modeled after presidential primaries, would cost about $8.3 million, with fewer polling places than the first scenario and a 15-day period for early voting.  That type of election would also require 120 days notice.
  • The final option, a mail-in ballot election, would have a 33-day early voting period, would require just 90 days notice, and would cost about $10.1 million.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett ordered his office to start examining the costs of a special election in February after media reports stated that Brewer would ask the Legislature to send a temporary tax increase proposal to the voters.  She made that request on March 4 in a speech before a joint session of the Legislature, asking lawmakers to either put the issue to a public vote or simply approve it themselves.  “I’m just trying to be prepared, knowing that that’s something they were at least thinking about,” Bennett said after the initial reports that Brewer would ask for a special election.

The governor also requested that the Legislature put another question to the voters, an overhaul of 1998’s Proposition 105, the Voter Protection Act.  Brewer said many of the funds that are protected by that proposition would be put to better use in bridging the $3 billion budget gap the state is expecting to face in fiscal year 2010.