House budget bars park closures

Published 10:19 am Wednesday, April 8, 2009

No state park can be closed in the next biennium in the latest version of the House budget.

Reps. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, and Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, co-authored the amendment adopted by the House Ways and Means Committee. This panel did exec the bill Tuesday.

It says:

“(4) The state parks and recreation commission shall not close any parks during the 2009-11 biennium. By January 10, 2010, the state parks and recreation commission shall provide a report to the legislature on their budget and resources related to operating parks for the remainder of the biennium.”

What reads like good news is not at all, says one of the most informed park advocates.

At least 13 parks could be closed or mothballed due to cuts contained in the budget proposals of the governor, House and Senate.

Democratic lawmakers are talking about adding a $5 “opt-out” fee on car license renewals to raise money to keep them open. That hasn’t happened yet. If it does it may not raise enough money to prevent closures. If it doesn’t materialize, the situation could be worse than now discussed.

Citizens for Parks and Recreation coordinator James King makes all those points and more in an e-mail sent out today.

It concludes:

“Bottom line- the operating budget reported by the House Ways &Means committee guarantees a collapse of State Parks. Unable to close parks without legislative permission until sometime next year, but not having the funding to adequately operate all of the state parks, there will be no choice available but a massive cut in operations and maintenance, followed by a report to the Legislature in January that it will be neccessary to close at least two dozen parks in the second year of the biennium to balance the State Parks budget.”