Arizona State Parks

Viewpoint: Cut to Arizona state parks a cut at state’s voters

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This December photo of San Xavier Mission shows completed restoration work on tower at left. Funding to restore tower at right has been elminated as part of the Legislature's effort to balance the state budget. (Photo: Rene Brachmonte, Tucson Citizen)

[Source: Anne T. Denogean, Tucson Citizen] — When state legislators cut Arizona State Parks funding as part of balancing the current fiscal year budget, they left nothing untouched.  The $26.3 million cut included a sweep of $4.9 million from the Heritage Fund, which, as its name implies, supports the heritage, history, and culture of Arizona.

Defunding state parks is bad enough, but in raiding the Heritage Fund, the Legislature gave the middle finger to Arizona voters.  Those voters created the fund in 1990, ordering that up to $20 million from the sale of lottery tickets be divided each year between the state park system and the Arizona Game & Fish Department.  The funds provide grants for projects to conserve our natural and wildlife resources.  They are used for historic preservation projects, for building and maintaining trails and for acquiring land for open space or outdoor recreation facilities.

Despite public support for the fund, legislators have been looking for ways to raid it since its inception, said Beth Woodin, president of the Arizona Heritage Alliance.  The nonprofit alliance formed in 1992 to protect the fund has helped fight off more than 30 previous attempts by legislators to pillage it.  Only once, in 2003, did the Legislature follow through with plans to take $10 million in Heritage Fund money from Game & Fish.

Woodin said just about every city and town in Arizona has benefited from the grants.  “The Heritage Fund represents education.  It’s a form of education about historic monuments, about wildlife, about habitats… To take that away is like taking away the foundation,” Woodin said.

Early this week, state park grant coordinators sent letters telling grant recipients not to spend the money that’s been awarded. Linda Mayro, Pima County cultural resources manager, said in excess of $1.5 million in Heritage Fund grants for projects countywide will be lost.  The Pascua Yaqui tribe had been awarded $430,500 to develop Pascua Yaqui Park.  Pima County is losing $59,700 it would have used to restore the historical Ajo Immaculate Conception Church.  The nonprofit Patronato San Xavier lost the $150,000 it had been counting on to start restoration of the east tower of San Xavier Mission.

The red-meat Republicans who dominate the Legislature may think they’re quite clever in sweeping this fund, thus avoiding cutting the budget elsewhere or raising taxes.  But it’s just another of their penny wise, pound foolish decisions and a poke in the eye to voters who told them two decades ago to keep their grubby hands off this money.

These projects often provide jobs, bring in matching federal and private grant money, and improve the assets that draw tourists to Arizona.  “These are our best amenities and it’s such a disinvestment to take this Heritage Fund away,” Mayro said.

Bill Meek, president of the Arizona State Parks Foundation, said chronic underfunding of capital needs is destroying our state parks.  “The state parks are a mess… What the customers don’t see very much of is the erosion that’s going on behind the scenes,” he said.  “They don’t see the wastewater systems that are being condemned by DEQ in almost every park in the state. They don’t see the walls that are about to fall down or did just fall down… because those things are sort of hidden from them.”

Legislative leadership has insisted that the budget must be hatcheted to address the state’s deficit, while ruling without any discussion of most alternatives, including — yes, I’ll say it — new taxes.  The deficit is daunting and deep cuts are unavoidable. But make no mistake about it, it’s the Legislature’s choice to swing the ax and let the parts fall where they may.  History, culture, and education be damned.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Viewpoint: Arizona legislature cut too deeply, must find solutions

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State budget cuts may force closure of Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, among Arizona's treasure trove of parks.

[Source: Arizona Republic] — The emergency surgery on the 2009 budget went too far.  The Legislature’s plan, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer on Saturday, cuts so deeply into muscle that it weakens Arizona’s future.

We can probably heal some of the damage.  If the state receives more federal stimulus money than legislators anticipated, the dollars should restore reductions with long-term consequences.  But the radical operation of 2009 is just a sample of what could happen next fiscal year.

The revenue shortfall for 2010 is expected to be a staggering $3 billion, nearly a third of the general-fund budget.  Arizona must consider every possible way to treat this huge but temporary problem and then choose the best mix to minimize lasting side effects.  A few examples of the 2009 cuts show how Arizona has reached the outer limit and beyond on budget reductions.

  • Universities took a huge and disproportionate share of the hit, undercutting their ability to create the highly educated workforce that many companies seek.
  • The 21st Century Fund was wiped out.  The last-minute maneuver, not supported by Republican leaders, eliminated $22.5 million that boosts technology and bioscience development in Arizona.
  • The Department of Economic Security says families that qualify for subsidized child care will have to go on a waiting list until the end of the fiscal year.  It’s estimated to include 5,000 children by June 30. Low-income parents will be forced to choose between working and leaving kids in risky situations.
  • Graduate medical education loses $7 million in funding, sacrificing a federal match of $14 million.  It’s a double-barreled loss in a state that needs more doctors and is expanding its medical sector.
  • State parks, part of our tourism economy as well as a playground for Arizonans, will have to shutter eight facilities or take similar drastic steps.

Everything should be on the table for 2010.  Reorganizing for greater efficiencies.  Using toll roads.  Maximizing the use of technology.  And as a last resort — if the only other option is gutting essential functions and jeopardizing Arizona’s future — the list should include the T-word.  Re-examining tax breaks.  Deferring the rollout of tax cuts.  Revamping and broadening the tax system.

We can look at ideas kicked around in the 40-plus other states facing shortfalls.  With a June 30 deadline for crafting a budget, we have time for thoughtful analysis.  But we have no time to waste on rhetoric and grandstanding.

No Arizona state funds for rebuilding Parker pool

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[Source: John Gutekunst, Parker Pioneer] — The Arizona State Parks Department has informed the Town of Parker they will not be providing funds to rebuild the town’s pool.  In an e-mail sent Feb. 2 to Community Development Director Guy Gorman, the parks department said that, due to the state’s budget problems, they were suspending further expenditures on projects funded with grants from the department.  The e-mail stated the legislature had cut funding for the Heritage Grant program. 

Heritage Grant and State Lake Improvement Fund recipients were told to halt construction if state funds were critical to the completion of the project.  The town had planned to use a State Parks Heritage Grant to rebuild the pool.  The grant was awarded in 2006.  The plan was to have the pool ready and open by this summer.  The current pool has deteriorated to the point where it has been closed since 2003.  “This legislative action comes with great disappointment to the community,” Mayor Karen Bonds said in a prepared statement. “Many hours of effort by so many have already been put into this project.”  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

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.]