Arizona State Legislature

Viewpoint: Arizona legislative cuts may force state parks to close

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[Source: Bill Meek, President, Arizona State Parks Foundation] — It’s difficult to be heard above the roar of concern from the education community over the ravages of state cost-cutting measures that are designed to overcome a two-year, $3 billion budget deficit.  But some of the rest of us have to try.

I write on behalf of Arizona State Parks, a small agency that serves more than 2 million people and is threatened with extinction by the Arizona Legislature’s attempts to close its budget gap with any money it can find, regardless of the end result.

Arizona’s 30 state parks welcomed 2.3 million visitors in 2007.  They were hikers, boaters, swimmers, fishermen, campers, history students, photographers, bird watchers and just plain gawkers.  All were served at no cost to Arizona taxpayers because the parks take in more money than the Legislature spends on them.

In fact, during the past eight years, the Legislature has taken $60 million more from State Parks than it has appropriated from the General Fund to run the system.  That’s because every three or four years, when the state has a budget crisis, the Legislature sweeps funds that State Parks has set aside for capital improvements and for grants to city and county park systems.

State Parks has had no operating fund increases since 2002 and hasn’t had a meaningful capital budget since 2003.  As a result, State Parks has massive unmet capital needs and their facilities are falling into ruin.  Historical buildings, like Jerome’s Douglas Mansion, are collapsing due to disrepair.  Waste water systems throughout the parks are disintegrating and have been condemned by environmental regulators.  Beaches are eroding and docks are splintering at state rivers and lakes.

These are assets that belong to the citizens of Arizona, but the Legislature seems to think it is the landlord and is apparently willing to be a slumlord.

While State Parks has been strapped for money to maintain its facilities for many years, it has not had to fire employees.  The Legislature has always left just enough money in the till to avoid layoffs.  Until now.

Last Friday, the Legislative budget builders adopted a spending plan that cuts State Parks operating and capital funds by $26.3 million in 2009 and $23.2 million in 2010, leaving the agency about $8 million short of operating cash each year, according to Parks officials.  They say that means layoffs.  Even an expected infusion of $500 million of federal stimulus funds brings no relief to State Parks.

The Legislature also thumbed its nose at Arizona voters by grabbing nearly $5 million of Arizona Heritage Fund money.  More than a decade ago, state voters created the Heritage Fund by authorizing the Game & Fish and Parks departments to split $20 million of state lottery funds annually for wildlife habitat and other purposes.

In the Parks system, when employees are fired, parks must be closed.  Parks officials have already targeted five parks for closure and as many as a third of the state’s parks could be closed under the Legislature’s budget axe.  Some might never re-open.

The timing of these cuts couldn’t be worse, when we may be on the cusp of finding a solution to the parks system’s long-term needs.

Based on a request that originated from the Arizona State Parks Foundation, former Gov. Janet Napolitano appointed a citizens task force to study the future of the parks system and recommend long-range solutions to Parks financing.  With the support of Gov. Jan Brewer, the task force will soon begin work.

In addition, the State Parks Board has contracted with the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University and with Northern Arizona University for research to support the task force’s mission.  The studies will provide a social and economic framework for State Parks in the context of massive population growth over the next 20 years.

The state budget for 2010 is not cast in concrete, but based on the Legislature’s approach this year, 2010 could be much worse for State Parks.  Let’s hope there is something left for the parks task force to save.

[Note: To date, this opinion piece has been reprinted in the White Mountain Independent and Camp Verde Bugle.]

Arizona state park closures delayed

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[Source: Casey Newton, Arizona Republic] — The closure of eight state parks was delayed Tuesday as the Arizona State Parks Board asked to be given more alternatives to consider.  The board voted unanimously to ask parks director Ken Travous and his staff to consider closing parks seasonally, furloughs for employees, and other reductions in operating expenses in an effort to spare the parks targeted for closing.  “I’d like to see a bigger menu,” said Mark Winkelman, a member of the board and the Arizona State Land Commissioner.  “We need to come up with some options instead of (just taking) one approach.”

The board will meet again Feb. 20, when it is scheduled to make a final decision.  The parks up for closure are: Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde; Homolovi Ruins State Park in Winslow; Lyman Lake State Park in Springerville; McFarland State Historic Park in Florence; Oracle State Park in Oracle; Riordan Mansion State Historic Park in Flagstaff; Tubac Presidio State Historic Park in Tubac; and Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park.

About 20 people from around the state spoke out during a Tuesday morning meeting that lasted more than three hours.  In all cases, speakers urged the board to resist closing the parks and seek alternatives to closing a 2009 budget deficit estimated at $650,000.  “We must be vigilant in saving our few remaining historic buildings as a legacy for our future generations,” said Shifra Lea Boehlje, a volunteer at Fort Verde.  “If we don’t preserve these buildings and artifacts, we will be destroying the only remaining monuments devoted to the memory of those soldiers who gave their lives for this great state.”

Despite residents’ cries, Travous was not optimistic that park closings could be avoided. “We need to make up a lot of money real fast,” said Travous, who has worked at the parks department since 1986. “We can chip around the edges, but the fact is that we’re out of time.”

Parks and environment are Arizona budget casualties

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[Source: The Arizona Guardian] — State Parks Director Ken Travous said Friday he laid off all seasonal parks workers — about 60 people in all — and suspended payments to local community groups for the state’s share of local projects.  He also has drawn up a list of eight parks the state can close — five immediately and three more in June — to be considered at a special meeting of the state parks board on Tuesday.  The state operates 27 parks.

The board also is expected to discuss more layoffs and other ways to deal with significant cuts in its $28 million budget.  The parks department was hit hard in the budgets passed Thursday by the House and Senate appropriations committees.  Cuts totaled more than $20 million for the current fiscal year, which is more than half over, through agency reductions and sweeps of funds used for parks and other recreational facilities.  Then on Friday morning, Gov. Jan Brewer proposed whacking another $1.8 million from two other funds the parks administer, including a boating safety program.  Travous is particularly bothered that legislative leaders and the governor don’t seem to care that parks are in terrible shape already due to lack of money.  “Our buildings are falling down,” Travous said, “literally falling down.”  Particularly hard hit in the GOP budget is the Heritage Fund, put in place by voters in 1990 to make sure parks and wildlife programs were adequately taken care of.  The Heritage Fund is fueled by $10 million annually from the state Lottery, an amount that has stayed the same since soon after it was started.  The proposed budget takes nearly $5 million from the Heritage Fund and gives $3 million of that to a fire suppression program. “They’re giving it to a program that prevents fires rather than a building that is already falling down,” Travous said.

Sandy Bahr, the lobbyist for the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club, said there have been about 30 attempts to raid the Heritage Fund in the past 20 years, but support has been widespread because the money benefits so many local communities and small projects — in many legislative districts.  But this year environmental concerns are being seriously challenged as lawmakers struggle to find money to satisfy myriad pressing needs.  That point was drilled home when Brewer finally entered the budget debate.  She basically traded off more than $18 million in cuts for programs that deal with health care, behavioral health, autism, the deaf and blind, and the homeless for $18 million in reductions largely from environmental programs — water quality, air quality, emissions inspections, and the state’s Superfund cleanup efforts.

The Department of Environmental Quality was up for about $30 million in cuts from operations, staff and fund sweeps. Brewer wants another $14 million chopped from programs.  “We had apprehensions about Brewer based on her voting record when she was in the Legislature,” Bahr said.  “Further decimating DEQ is an example of how her perspective hasn’t changed.”  Environmental groups routinely gave Brewer low marks — some of the lowest in the Senate — in the mid-1990s, according to scorecards released back then.  “The bottom line is environmental protection is not a big priority for the Brewer administration,” Bahr said.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said Brewer’s request to take money from environmental funds and put more toward social programs shouldn’t be seen as anything more than trying to balance difficult choices.  “It’s not a broad generalization about where it leads to policy,” he said.  Bahr argues that environmental programs are really public health efforts — gutting the air quality fund, for instance, has a disastrous effect on people’s health, especially children.  She pointed to a recent DEQ study that shows asthma attacks among children rise when particulate levels go up.  The programs DEQ oversees are designed to help the state meet health-based standards set by law.  Bahr says the federal government likely will step in and enforce water and air quality standards since the state can’t do it.  The FY 2010 budget “is going to be horrible,” Bahr said.  “This is just a precursor of what to expect. It’s going to be even uglier.”

Beyond the budget, Bahr said bills are being introduced that attempt to weaken environmental regulations and enforcement efforts.  “It’s pretty discouraging to see how little progress we’ve made convincing lawmakers that environmental protection is a priority and how important it is to our economy.”

State park closures likely from Arizona budget cuts

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[Source: Associated Press] — The head of the state Parks Department says five or more state parks could be closed as a result of spending cuts and fund transfers included in a legislative budget-balancing plan.  Parks Director Ken Travous said Friday he’ll be forced to recommend the closures of five parks to the Parks Board to help implement the funding changes included in the legislative plan.

Travous declined to identify which of the 27 parks would face closure before he makes a recommendation to the board for consideration next week.  But he said several more parks could be closed by summer.  He said the funding cuts would mean layoffs for approximately 100 employees, including 60 seasonal personnel who are already furloughed without pay. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]