Subject: Update on State Parks Closure
Date: 2008-01-21
I thought you might be interested in some of the ideas that are being suggested for keeping our state parks open. None of the suggestions include new revenues, or as some have noted, old revenue sources that were cut by the current state government, such as the $44 a year (average) vehicle license fee or the Governor Wilson (Republican) 1% income bracket tax rate increase of 2 percentage points (that applies to folks who earn more than a couple of million dollars a year). If both of these old measures were reinstated, we would wipe out the deficit, be able to track our water exports (note below the elimination of Water Board funds - the Board does get money from bonds, but they also have to monitor water rights and water quality and eliminating the general fund sources for this would eliminate that oversight). The proposed take away from the state conservancies affects all the conservancies that operate on a shoe string, such as the San Joaquin River Conservancy. As you can see, I am not a big fan of making life worse for others to save the parks.
Capitol Alert - by The Sacramento Bee
GOP options to keep parks open
Posted by Shane Goldmacher on January 18, 2008
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he wants lawmakers to come up with alternatives to closing 48 state parks, Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines was listening.
The Clovis Republican has come up with a short list of ideas in lieu of what he called the "unnecessary approach" of closing parks, which saves the budget $13.3 million.
(Democrats are wondering if the governor is even serious, Judy Lin reports in today's Bee.
Villines' ideas total $7.6 million in hard savings. Among them (directly from Villines' office):
- Encouraging volunteers to take over park operations and maintenance on an interim basis.
- Reducing augmentations to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, a potential savings of up to $1.1 million.
- Encouraging more public-private partnerships, to facilitate investment from non-profits and charitable foundations to help maintain park operations.
- Utilizing the $4 million surplus in the Environmental License Plate fund to support nature conservancies and then redirecting funds initially set aside for conservancies to support park operations.
- Eliminating General Fund support for the State Water Board, which primarily receives its funding from bonds and special funds, to save $2.5 million.
- Delaying selling additional resources bonds that don’t generate economic activity or provide public safety.
As for that last one, Morgan Crinklaw, Villines' spokesman, said, "It doesn’t make sense to acquire more land through the sale of bonds at a time when we are being told we can’t afford our current parks." |
