Thread: 15 State parks on closing list

Maybe the lottery (or Native tribe) will bail us out ;-)

LOL again, not likely!

This problem will not be solved by politicians (even though it was created by them).
IMHO the more individual citizens do to $UPPORT the State Parks, the more of the problem will go away.
That, and TELL the politicians to keep their damn hands off the funds generated by the parks!

Originally Posted by Pier#r

Maybe the lottery (or Native tribe) will bail us out ;-)

LOL again, not likely!

This problem will not be solved by politicians (even though it was created by them).
IMHO the more individual citizens do to $UPPORT the State Parks, the more of the problem will go away.
That, and TELL the politicians to keep their damn hands off the funds generated by the parks!

Mornin' #'er, I work for the DNR (Parks & Recreation Dept.) in MN. which is different than AL. because of the short season, only 6 months in most cases, but up here the Parks do not generate enough money to support themselves and are a liability to the State. Down there you have a longer season because of the weather, but because of of the longer season, it may create a greater liability to the State. If the Parks were open in the Winter months up here, they would take in very little revenue and the cost would be nearly the same as the Summer months. I suspect that is the case with the AL. Parks. However, MN. has a very nice surplus in their funds to work with, one of a few States in the Union that does, thanks to our Gov., Mark Dayton. MN. is buying a lot of recreation land, which may not be good because of the loss of tax revenue but it is nice to have and the State can and does sell it if they so desire. If I recall correctly, AL. had a huge short fall and had to cut back on many areas to keep from raising taxes considerably. Only my thoughts!!!

I remember a few years ago our sales tax was 7% in town and 5% in the county. We had no revenue from alcohol sales(dry county and city) and our budgets were just fine. Shortly after passing legalized sales of alcohol legislation(and the promise of a windfall of new revenue) our sales tax rose again to 9%. Revenue AIN'T the problem. Most government agencies are the epitome of waste, poor planning, corruption, inefficiency and ineffective management. Tell me how many public officials, police officers, deputies, and state troopers did you see driving huge luxury gas guzzling SUVs back when we had balanced budgets? If you feed the monster more it will simply get bigger and need to be fed more so it can get bigger and need to be fed more.

Apparently this saga isn't over yet...
Five State Parks to Close on Thursday

Five State Parks to Close on Thursday

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Details Created on 12 Oct 2015



By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Thursday, October 15, the Alabama Parks System will close five of its parks. Bladon Springs, Chickasaw, Paul Grist, Roland Cooper and Florala will all close in order to save the troubled parks system money. The closings, which disproportionately affect the Black Belt Counties, have been criticized because the cuts, like the cuts of the 31 driver’s license offices by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) target the government infrastructure closest to the people rather than management and redundant administration and staff in Montgomery.
One of the most outspoken critics has been State Auditor Jim Zeigler (R), whose own office received an incredible 25 percent cut.
Auditor Zeigler has announced that he will make a major speech "The State of Our State Parks" also on Thursday, October 15, the same day that the five parks close.
Zeigler said that the closure of the five state parks on Thursday is unnecessary and shows bad management by state government.
Zeigler said in a statement, “Gov. Robert Bentley says the parks are closing due to the Alabama legislature’s failure to pass his entire package of five tax increases. Three tax increases did pass, but the Bentley administration went forward with the parks closures.”
Zeigler says the parks generate 85 to 90 percent of the money they need to operate, from fees and sales.
Zeigler blames transfers of park funds by the state legislature to the troubled state general fund (SGF): “Just in the past five years, $15 million made by the parks has been stolen from them and used to prop up other state programs. If this money had been left within the park system, there would be no closures,” Zeigler said.
Zeigler said, “The Bentley administration is hinting at more closures of more parks next year. We need better management and a long-term plan to keep the parks open. The simple thing to do is to stop taking money earned by the parks and let them keep it. With a few changes, the parks can be self-sustaining and not rely on taxpayer funds. Nobody in Montgomery is taking a lead role in getting this done.”
Zeigler said that he will address the future of state parks at his Thursday speech in Hoover at the 5:45 p.m. meeting of Rainy Day Patriots. The event will be at Hoover Tactical Firearms, 1561 Montgomery Highway, Hoover, AL. The meeting is open to the public.
Some lawmakers (particularly rural Black Democrats) have suggested that their districts were targeted with closures of parks, driver’s licenses, and even ABC stores because they would not support the Bentley Administration’s Draconian tax increases on the people of Alabama. The Black lawmakers had demanded that the state start a state lottery or allow casino gambling as a way to generate more revenue rather than Bentley’s plan to raise taxes on people’s cigarettes, cigars, nursing home beds, pharmacy prescriptions, income, utility bills, car tags, car sales, car rentals, tea and soft drinks, and business privileges.
A smaller cigarette tax (25 cents instead of the 80 cents Bentley first proposed), the nursing home bed tax, and the prescription drug tax were the only taxes to pass. The Bentley administration is expected to reintroduce more of their tax package in 2016.
State Parks officials insist that the five parks being closed have been money losers for years and were targeted to save costs not to target politicians or for racial reasons.
Zeigler has insisted that Montgomery cut out the perks and privileges of office such as the vehicles and the Governor’s jet rather than services to the people of Alabama like the parks.

"Zeigler blames transfers of park funds by the state legislature to the troubled state general fund (SGF): “Just in the past five years, $15 million made by the parks has been stolen from them and used to prop up other state programs. If this money had been left within the park system, there would be no closures,” Zeigler said."


BINGO!!!!!
I guess sometimes, the really obvious needs to be stated publically by someone in a position to know what is really going on.

PLEASE take the survey...

http://survey.dcnr.alabama.gov/TakeSurvey.aspx?PageNumber=1&SurveyID=96K2nn4&Prev iew=true

Originally Posted by CarlF

"Zeigler blames transfers of park funds by the state legislature to the troubled state general fund (SGF): “Just in the past five years, $15 million made by the parks has been stolen from them and used to prop up other state programs. If this money had been left within the park system, there would be no closures,” Zeigler said."


BINGO!!!!!
I guess sometimes, the really obvious needs to be stated publically by someone in a position to know what is really going on.

That knife has two edges.

One could also argue that if all the money stayed in the system then money from parks that are used by the public, would be siphoned off to support more pork barrel parks that exist mostly because they are in some powerful politician's district.

Ideally, I would like to see parks that are supported by the people maintained at a minimum cost to users while letting the pork projects close (or never open). I think most people would want the same. Politicians will always use public money to feather their own nests, that's the nature of the beast.

Originally Posted by CarlF

"Zeigler blames transfers of park funds by the state legislature to the troubled state general fund (SGF): “Just in the past five years, $15 million made by the parks has been stolen from them and used to prop up other state programs. If this money had been left within the park system, there would be no closures,” Zeigler said."


BINGO!!!!!
I guess sometimes, the really obvious needs to be stated publically by someone in a position to know what is really going on.

No doubt our State Parks need the revenue they generate to maintain all of their facility's to the public. Those State Parks that we visit up here in N. Al. all have facility needs to be addressed to keep visitors satisfied with their visits, just so that they would be willing to return sometime, as opposed to going home and telling folks what a run-down place that was they just went to. What we will get from Goat Hill will be a user fee AND a State Parks tittie to prop up our G.F.

Not to be repetitive or play partisan politics but this isn't a new issue to the State of Alabama. Our government has been "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" long before the party in the majority in Montgomery came into power. If they cut out 1/4th of the fraud, waste and abuse there would be no budget shortfall.

The only thing to do is to just accept the new paradigm - The State Parks will be sold to private interests that have bribed politiicans to divert money designated for those State Parks SO THAT they would go broke. "Small government" means a reduction in services and facilities connected to the government. The decision has been made, collectively, to support the present legislators and the people of Alabama will have to live with that decision. There's really no point in wringing hands over this. Everyone should have known that this was coming. The new paradigm can be called "The State of Alabama, minus public access facilities like State Parks and Wildlife Management Areas and convenient Driver's License facilities."