Heritage Fund

Concerned citizen speaks out about latest “raid” on Arizona Heritage Fund

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Below is a letter to Arizona’s Governor and state legislators from a concerned citizen about the potential impact of the state’s recent ’09 budget agreement on Arizona State Parks and the Arizona Heritage Alliance.  AHA received permission from the author to reprint it here.

Dear Governor Brewer:

This is not the first time the legislature has tried to raid Heritage Funds from Arizona State Parks.  But this time they did it so quickly and quietly “to balance the state budget deficit” that no one had the chance to make them stop and think about the consequences.

As a result, the State Parks Board, a very caring and forwarding thinking group of people, are left to deal with the mess that our legislature has handed them.  They have until February 20th to figure it out.  And I don’t know how they’re going to do it.

Will the Parks Board close seven state parks for good, or close all state parks a few days a week (hopefully not on the weekends), or will they pull a rabbit out of their collective hat to magically generate additional revenue to support themselves without taxpayer money?  I don’t know what they will do.  What I do know is that they deserve a whole lot of credit for not throwing their hands in the air and walking away from the big mess they have been handed.

Heritage Funds support our parks and historic preservation efforts, two very forward-thinking investments in the social and cultural life of our state.  The Fund has benefitted and could continue to benefit every legislative district in the state.  With tourism as one of our largest economic generators, both parks and history matter — to those who live here and to those who vacation here.  But none of those people seem to matter to our current legislature.

What matters is cutting numbers.  And, in doing that, our legislature has stopped work under every Heritage Grant underway.  The announcement came on February 2nd that all work was to stop as of February 1st.  (That is a neat trick in itself, traveling back in time like that.)

An even neater trick is that they called a stop to these grants, which all had legally executed contracts and legally recorded easements.  The easements state that Heritage grant funds “went” into those properties.  But as of February 1st, under our new balanced state budget, there seem to be no Heritage Funds to go into those properties.  The State Parks Board is looking into the legalities of severing contracts before presenting its revised departmental budget with what monies remain after the legislative sweep.

Legal difficulties aside, there are economic ramifications — exactly what you don’t want in our sluggish economy.  Let’s use a grant to Catlin Court Historic District in Glendale as the example.  If the state pulls Heritage matching funds (40% of the project cost), the property owner will not spend their matching funds (50%), and the City of Glendale will not spend their match (10%).  One hundred percent of that money will not stimulate our slow economy as the contractor ready to do the restoration work will not get paid (nor will he or she pay taxes on the work that he or she won’t do.)

The property itself will continue to deteriorate, adding nothing to the value of the neighborhood, the city, nor the state.  Where’s the tourism value in any of that?  And what is the loss in state revenue that occurs as a result of lessened tourism?

And apart from economics, and even apart from legalities, what does this one thoughtless budget cut by our legislature do to our quality of life in the long run?

In an emergency meeting today, one of the members of the State Parks Board said something along the lines of: We can’t think about 2010; we have five months of 2009 that we need to think about right now.  That was not a curt remark.  Far from it.  The man was pained to say it.  The State Parks Board has been placed in a tight spot and they are struggling to find a way out, right now.  They cannot think about the future until they figure out how to deal with the present.

It’s a crime to do that to such a forward-thinking bunch, to those who are planning a healthy future for Arizona, with parks and historic preservation, with recreational opportunities for our future generations and some history to anchor all of us in Arizona’s past.

We have very little history here in metro Phoenix.  And when we have none, when nothing gives us a reason to look back or to look to the future, we will all be as shortsighted as our current legislature seems to be today.

Rethink it, please.  Restore Heritage funding to State Parks.

Sincerely,
Maureen Rooney
Phoenix

Take the Arizona Trail User Survey!

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Click here to take the Arizona Trail User Survey.  This study is part of an effort to develop plans for the State Trails Program and the Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Program.  The survey is being conducted by the Arizona State Parks Board and Arizona State University to ask for input into the trail planning process. 

Your participation in this survey is very important.  Your answers will help set priorities for trail management in Arizona, and help determine how a portion of the Heritage Fund and the Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Recreation Fund should be spent.  The Heritage Fund comes from Lottery revenues and the OHV Fund comes from gasoline tax dollars.  Some of these funds go directly to provide recreational trail opportunities and facilities for all Arizona residents and visitors.

The survey will take approximately 15 – 20 minutes to complete.  Your answers to this survey are completely confidential. Your name will not be connected to your answers in any way.  Your participation in this survey is voluntary; however, you can help us very much by taking a few minutes to share your opinions.  Please forward this e-mail to other Arizonans interested in trails.  If you have questions about the survey, send an e-mail to Arizona State Parks.

Arizona’s 2008 legislative session: a marathon of missed opportunities

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[Source: Grand Canyon Chapter, Sierra Club] — The 2008 Legislative Session is best characterized as too long with too little accomplished.  After 164 days -– the fourth longest on record -– there was little to point to in the positive column for environmental protection, and much time was wasted waiting for legislators to come to agreement on a budget, the only thing they absolutely have to do.  The Legislature missed a great opportunity to do something significant relative to energy efficiency and did little to promote renewable energy, but they did pass a bill to constrain Arizona’s ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a measure that was later vetoed.  “We were very disappointed that in the waning days of the legislative session, Senate leadership was unwilling to bring an important energy efficiency measure to the floor for a vote -– despite the fact that there was strong support for it,” said Sandy Bahr, Chapter Director for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter.  “At a time when we should be doing all we can to promote renewable energy and invest in energy efficiency, legislators instead focused on undercutting the Governor’s ability to work to limit climate change.”

Once again, the bad environmental legislation outweighed the good.  The worst of the environmental bills did not advance, however, and several bills were vetoed, including the terrible greenhouse gas bill.  A measure which would have undercut science-based wildlife management was defeated in the House Committee of the Whole early in the session, thanks to the efforts of Representative David Lujan and other members in the House.  Finally, while the budget will not promote a lot of environmental protection nor adequately fund implementation of key programs, the Legislature did refrain from raiding the Heritage Fund.  The Heritage Fund provides dollars for parks and wildlife.  No measures advanced to undercut the initiative process, but, unfortunately, a citizen initiative has been filed that will do so.  The Legislature also did not refer a measure to compete with the citizen initiative on conservation of state trust lands.  “We were happy to see a bill to help protect lands from off-road vehicle abuses advance through the process and be signed into law by the Governor,” said Bahr.  “The bill will provide dollars for law enforcement, mitigation, and restoration of public and private lands.  It can also help facilitate some needed closures of sensitive areas.  This was a small bright light in an otherwise lackluster session.”

Overall, at a time when the country is focusing on energy issues and the need to promote conservation, efficiency, and renewable sources, the Arizona Legislature came up short.  The lack of leadership and lackluster performance is reflected in the grades on this year’s report card.  In the Senate, there were eight senators who received failing grades and ten who earned a “D.”  In the House, 28 representatives — nearly half the body — failed, and another four got a “D.”  On a positive note, one senator and four representatives got an “A+,” which means they voted 100% pro-environment and also did not miss a vote on the key bills we scored.  One senator and 16 House members received an “A.”

Arizona state legislative update (Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club)

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The Arizona State Senate passed a budget early on the morning of June 26 and the House passed the same budget that night.  It is on its way to the Governor.  Considering they are making up a nearly $2 billion shortfall, it could have been a lot worse — although most environmental programs are already underfunded.  The Legislature cannot get the votes to really increase revenues substantially, so cuts, fund transfers, bonding, and rollovers are the focus. 

The Arizona State Parks system is hit hard again with over $7.4 million in fund transfers; at the Department of Water Resources, the Arizona Water Protection Fund dollars were rolled back again; and the Department of Environmental Quality had $8.6 million in fund transfers.

The Governor and Legislature did not hit the Heritage Fund, however.  These dollars are critical to parks and wildlife and are inadequate as is.  Please thank the Governor and legislators for keeping the Heritage Fund intact.

  • You can reach the Governor at azgov@az.gov.  Or, call 602-542-4331 or outside the Phoenix area 1-800-253-0883.  You can also write to: The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona, 1700 W. Washington, 9th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85007 or by fax at 602-542-1381.
  • To contact your state legislators, go to www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp.  If you are not sure who your legislators are, go to www.vote-smart.org (you will need your 9-digit zip code) or call the House or Senate information desks.  If you’re outside the Phoenix area, call your legislators’ offices at 1-800-352-8404; in the Phoenix area call 602-926-3559 (Senate) or 602-926-4221 (House).  Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890.