Perry Blasted on Cuts for State Parks

Jobsanger has a post up about the latest turn in the funding crisis for state parks. Governor Perry is pushing for another ten percent across the board cut in agency budgets for the coming year. Officials in the Dept. of Texas Parks and Wildlife have stated that that can only be achieved with additional layoffs and closure of as many as 18 parks. Now his gubernatorial challengers are firing back.

Kinky, Bell, and Grandma have all called for the $35 million cap to be removed, and an extra $50 million be given to the parks from the fund.

Of course, Strayhorn has been a little inconsistent on this issue, as one of our readers pointed out.

And kudos to the journalist R.A. Dyer and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's coverage of this issue. Barely a day goes by without another article or editorial in the paper highlighting the disgraceful state of our state parks. It appears that this issue has finally gotten the public's attention. But promises are cheap. Let's hope the pressure doesn't let up until a resolution is in place.

Texas Parks - Taking Action

In my previous post on the funding crisis in Texas parks, one of our readers suggested it's time to take action, and suggested a couple of ways to do so. Art Chapman seems to concur:

Texas state parks are in abysmal condition, and the state Legislature is the only source of relief in sight.

The problem is, the Legislature doesn't act unless there is an enormous political prize at stake or a catastrophic crisis is at its doorstep......

There has never been a true hue and cry on the part of the public. Not when it comes to parks. Let a new hunting restriction surface, or limit the number of red fish that can be caught by sports fishermen, and watch the people turn out for public meetings. Hunters and fishers keep up with legislation; they make their voices heard. They demand change.

There are several advocacy groups for the Texas parks system, including many local "friends" groups. One very informative site that is covers all parks is Texans for State Parks.

The funding crisis for the Texas park system is not new. A problem this serious takes years to develop. Last year, a bill was introduced which would have raised the cap on money generated from the sporting goods tax.

Because Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, has introduced House Bill 1292, which proposes to save our parks by more than doubling the allocation of sporting goods tax revenue dedicated to state and local parks. This bill would raise the decade-old cap to $85 million from $32 million. Instead of $16 million annually, state parks would receive $58.5 million, with local parks getting the balance to offset the amount taken away from them during the previous budget cycle.

This bill sits in the House Ways and Means Committee, with no hearing date set. There are other legislative opportunities to boost state park funding, but this is the most generous. And its chances for survival are not that good. Passage could depend on our input.

Despite those efforts, the bill never made it out of committee.

We have an election coming up. Among the long list of issues for which our state representatives need to be held accountable, funding for Texas parks should be at the top. Make sure they know it.

More on the Texas Park System

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a front page article and a multi-page spread highlighting the state of the Texas Park system in Sunday's paper. R. A. Dyer's three articles cover an overview of the park system, a summary of the damage from Hurricane Rita, and a highlight of the problems facing Garner State Park, the most popular park in Texas.

The main article, "Texas parks in a state of neglect," documents many specific unmet needs in the parks, including the deplorable state of the transportation system, where decade old vehicles are being cannibalized to keep the remaining fleet running.

According to state parks Director Walt Dabney, the biggest challenge to park management is the escalating fixed costs, i.e., utilities and fuel. With a stagnant budget, the only way to manage increases in costs is to cut personnel.

The article details the funding issues, including sources of revenues.

So now the system is mostly dependant on its own revenue -- about 61 percent of its overall budget comes from operating fees, oil and gas royalties, and the sale of cattle. By contrast, about 35 percent of the overall parks budgets nationwide come from self-generating sources, according to a Texas A&M University researcher.

It is worth noting that although the Big Bend sale of 46,000 acres was blocked, the article lists ten other parks that are being transferred to other agencies, including local municipalities. The Matagorda Island State Park is being downgraded to a state wildlife management area, without staff or park programs.

Gov. Perry's recent ads targeted the good he's done for economic development in Texas. Yet in a state where tourism is among the top five industries, this is how Perry is responding to the park's funding crisis.

"Although funding for Texas parks slowly began to evaporate more than a decade ago, much of the slide occurred the watch of Gov. Rick Perry, who took office in 2000.

While the state budget has grown 42 percent under his tenure, the budget for parks has gone down. Perry also recently called upon all state agencies to submit spending plans for the upcoming two-year budget cycle that include additional cuts of 10 percent -- meaning the parks division is likely to face more reductions.

"The parks department, like other agencies, has had to tighten its belt," said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Perry.

She said the agency may want to consider divesting itself of additional parkland as a way to save money [emphasis mine], although the department has already made reductions that far outstrip the state average.

It's visionary thinking like this that's earned him four challengers in the upcoming election. The article is a long one, but mandatory reading for anyone who fishes, hunts, boats, or camps in Texas.

Starve the Beasts - The Dire Straits of the Texas Parks System

An editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sunday highlighted the chronic underfunding of the Department of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

There's nothing to celebrate about a parks system that is so pathetically underfunded and neglected.....

The system, part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, has eliminated dozens of positions from an already skeletal staff. It has shut down portions of parks and scaled back programs for children.....

How does Texas rate nationally in support of its parks?

Texas ranks 49th among the 50 states in funding for state parks. With Texas' population pushing 23 million, the state parks annual operating budget is a puny $54.4 million, or roughly $2.37 per Texan - about what you might pay for a small cheeseburger.

At a time when the Texas state government enjoys a surplus of eight billion dollars, support for the park system has gone from bad to worse.

Dabney, the parks director, said operations at 50 parks had to be cut in December and 73 staff positions were eliminated. "We came close to closing one-third of the system," he said.

Now, in addition to its other problems, the park system may have to eat the costs of repairs due to Hurricane Rita.

The reason? According to [Director of the Infrastructure Division] Whiston, FEMA officials cite the state agency's lack of flood insurance, which FEMA requires as a condition for reimbursement.

"We are trying to work with them to see if we could be exempted from that," Whiston said. "We are -- as is typical for a state agency -- self-insured in most cases. And flood insurance on coastal properties is impossible. We're unable to get it."

Since the 1990s, Texas state parks have been funded by a portion of the sporting goods sales tax. But the portion dedicated to the park system was capped, and for the last several years the parks' operating budget has been stagnant. Amid the current funding debate are renewed rumors of privatization.

Last summer, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department commissioners contemplated selling off 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park, the largest state park in Texas, to John Poindexter, the Houston businessman who owns the nearby Cibolo Creek Ranch luxury resort. The proposed sale, endorsed by TPWD staff, was pretty
such business as usual for the department, where selling parkland, transferring state parks to counties and cities, and downgrading state parks to “wildlife management areas” are all in a day’s work. But when news leaked out that a chunk of the 299,000-acre state ranch on the Rio Grande was up for grabs, a sudden public outcry led the parks commissioners to reject the proposal–unanimously.

Gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn blasted Governor Perry over the proposal to sell Big Bend, but her record on this issue isn't stellar, either.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn recently proposed to privatize the Texas State Railroad in her e-Texas publication. Senate Bill 1260, which was filed today in the Senate, would require that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to contract with a private company. The section of the bill states "the department may not operate the Texas State Railroad."

The proposal was ultimately shelved, but funding for the railroad was never resolved, and talks of retiring the train are back on the agenda.

A Texas State Parks Advisory Committee is set to look into the funding issue. A likely recommendation is to raise or eliminate the cap on the amount of money parks can get from the sporting goods tax. The advisory committee has vowed to take their fight to the 2007 legislature, and perhaps they'll find a sympathetic ear. As the FWST editorial noted:

The anorexic parks budget should be greatly increased by the Legislature in its regular biennial session in 2007. This would enable the parks system to add employees, pay for desperately needed capital and maintenance projects, reinstate curtailed programs and buy additional parkland that would prove to be a vital asset in coming decades as Texas' population increases by 50 percent or more.

The problem is straight forward, and the cure is fairly simple, but does this mean we're likely to see a solution next year? To paraphrase the FWST editorial board, we'll believe it when we see it.