Month: March 2009

Budget cuts force Arizona State Library to close archives

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[Source: Norman Oder, Library Journal] — In a decision that has drawn deep concern from the public, the Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records has closed regular public access to the $38 million Polly Rosenbaum State Archives and History Building, which opened last fall and was dedicated in mid-January, according to the Arizona Republic.  GladysAnn Wells, state librarian, said that the closure was the only solution to a nearly 75% cut in the agency’s remaining budget for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.  The reduction is $1.45 million out of $2 million, and archives staff have been cut from13 to 3.  The state research library and museum have cut hours, as well.

Those researchers who wish to access books, documents, and other resources will be able to make appointments to use the new building.  “I’m hoping something is going to happen so that we can re-open it,” Wells told the Phoenix New Times, which noted that the building had had about ten to 25 visitors a day.

“My husband and I were fortunate to have just finished the extensive research for our history of east-central Arizona before the archives closed,” wrote one commenter on the newspaper’s web site.  “Our book is richer and deeper because of the nuggets found there.”

“I can’t believe that it has been closed completely,” another complained.  “Cut down the hours, ask for volunteers, but to cut off history to the people of Arizona who are doing research and writing history is inexcusable.”

Rim Country legislators vow to reopen Tonto state park

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Jack A. Brown
State Rep. Jack Brown

[Source: Pete Aleshire, Payson Roundup] — The closure of Tonto Natural Bridge State Park this week provoked a flurry of public outrage, angry volunteers, muddled explanations, contentious meetings, collapsing budgets and blame-shifting lawmakers.  By the time the rhetorical smoke had cleared, all three of the Rim Country’s legislative representatives had sworn to push for the reopening of the park as soon as possible. However, they largely sidestepping blame for the draconian budget cuts that forced the state parks board to plan closure of more than half of its 27 parks — including the Rim Country park showcasing the world’s largest travertine arch.

Sylvia Allen
State Senator Sylvia Allen

The action this week took place first at an overflow public meeting in Payson on Tuesday attended by representatives Jack Brown and Bill Konopnicki, followed by a vigorous arm-twisting session in the Phoenix office of Sen. Sylvia Allen on Wednesday.  The state parks board had unexpectedly closed Tonto Natural Bridge to shift staff to other parks while contractors do roof and structural repairs on an historic building that’s been leaking badly for so long that it has suffered structural damage. The three state lawmakers vowed to get the park open before summer either by pressuring the parks board to fence off the crumbling lodge during the $600,000 construction project or by postponing repairs.  They each denounced the parks board’s decision as “political,” but none directly addressed the impact of the legislature’s decision to take $34 million from various parks’ funds — nearly $30 million more than the general fund contributes to park operations.

Bill Konopnicki
State Rep. Bill Konopnicki

Instead, the lawmakers criticized the parks board for “playing politics” by closing a popular, nearly self-supporting park like Tonto Natural Bridge, which draws about 90,000 visitors annually and contributes an estimated $3.5 million to the local economy.  “We have to get this park opened back up,” said Rep. Konopnicki (R-Safford) at the town meeting held at the Best Western Payson Inn, which drew an overflow crowd of 150. “I just can’t understand what the parks board was thinking … It’s politically motivated to make people yell at the legislature,” he said. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Newsweek magazine covers Arizona State Parks mess

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[Source: Jessica Ramirez, Newsweek Magazine] — Ken Travous has spent the past month trying to get out of the red.  During a meeting with Arizona State Parks Board members Feb. 3, Travous, who serves as parks director, explained that statewide budget cuts would mean he’d have to close up to 11 state parks. The board naturally wanted to avoid such drastic measures and asked him to come back with “more options” for cutting $27 million.

Unfortunately, the options aren’t necessarily better.  Shutting down the parks would mean closing some of the oldest public lands in the state, a loss of about 31 jobs and roughly $50 million dollars in economic impact to the state. Plan B would mean asking employees to take furloughs, laying off up to 40 park workers, and cutting about $12 million in funds for community projects like local parks, trail developments, and historic preservation.  Without that funding, landscapers, carpenters, and plumbers hired by these communities would be out of work.  It’s this choice that made him feel like he’d been punched in the stomach every time he sits down at his desk.  “I have spent the last 23 years as the director of this state park system, building it up,” he says.  “Now I see it crumbling beneath my feet, and it makes me sick.”   [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Arizona special election costs could exceed $11 million

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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.