Jerome chamber petitions for reopening of state park

[Source: Philip Wright, Verdenews.com] – Chamber of Commerce president Tom Pitts has taken the lead in trying to get the Jerome State Historic Park reopened.  Opened in October of 1965, the Douglas Mansion was operated continuously as the State Historic Park until Arizona State Parks closed it, suddenly, on Feb. 26.  Although the parks board originally targeted the park for closure due to budget constraints, when it finally closed the tourist attraction, it gave “maintenance and repairs” as the reason. Unfortunately, no work or bidding has taken place on the mansion.

Pitts spoke to the Jerome Town Council Tuesday night to update them on his and the chamber’s efforts to reopen the park.  ”I put together a petition calling for the reopening of the park,” Pitts said.  He said more than 3,000 signatures of Arizona residents had been collected.  Other signatures from throughout the United States and many other countries were included on the petition.  With the petition, Pitts included a fact sheet based on a 2007 study done by Northern Arizona University on the economic impact of Arizona’s state parks.

Nearly 2.3 million people visited Arizona state parks in 2007, spending more than $162 million.  The Jerome State Historic Park generated more than $7 million income for Yavapai County.  The total visitors to the park during that year was more than 60,000, with 72 percent of them from out of state. Pitts told the council that state officials are actually starting to look at it.  ”We’re anxious to get it reopened,” he said.

Arizona towns feel state park closures’ effects on business

[Source: Arizona Daily Star, Associated Press] — Arizona towns that rely on nearby state parks are seeing a big decline in tourism and the dollars that tourists spend.  The state closed Jerome State Historic Park and Tonto Natural Bridge State Park on Feb. 26 after the Legislature cut more than $34 million in park funds to help fill budget gaps.

Art gallery, restaurant and bar owners in Jerome say the nearby state park is a major draw.  Last year, 60,000 people came through Jerome. Researchers at Northern Arizona University say tourists brought $7 million to Yavapai County in 2007.  Payson and other rim communities are coping with the partial closure of Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.

The park has been open most weekends since Memorial Day, but attendance has plummeted.

State park closures take toll on Arizona towns

[Source: Parker Leavitt, Arizona Republic] — The budget-cut-induced closure of two popular state parks is taking an economic toll on businesses in Jerome and Payson.  Jerome State Historic Park and Tonto Natural Bridge State Park were closed Feb. 26 after the state Legislature cut more than $34 million in park funds to help fill budget gaps.

The park in Jerome remains shuttered.  Tonto Natural Bridge has reopened, but only on weekends. Consequently, hotel bookings have slowed, and shops and restaurants see fewer customers, while a recent Northern Arizona University study suggests the closures could cost the regions several million dollars in annual park-driven revenues.  “There is no question that people up here feel the loss,” Jerome Chamber of Commerce President Tom Pitts said.  “There’s a big hole in the experience here.”

Jerome, Arizona’s smallest incorporated town, is home to an eclectic mix of art galleries, wineries and historic sites.  The state park was a major draw for the community’s tourism industry, helping to lure more than 60,000 visitors in 2008.  “People make traveling decisions based on what they’re going to do when they get here,” said Anne Conlin, owner of the Connor Hotel in Jerome.  “(Guests now) book maybe a one-night stay instead of a two-night stay. Or they just don’t come at all.”

The park includes the historic Douglas Mansion, built in 1916, antique mining attractions and a picnic area with views of the region’s mountains.  [Note: To read the full article, click here]

Approved Arizona state parks budget called ‘not sustainable’

[Source: Florence Reminder] — “Today (Monday) the Board approved the 2010 operating budget down from $26 million to $19.3 million,” State Parks Board Chair Reese Woodling said.  “All of that money now is coming from conservation taxes and park-earned monies with none from the state’s General Fund budget.  This is not a sustainable budget to keep the parks and programs operating, so we have hard decisions about how to fund each one.”

“This $19M is also contingent on the enactment of the Budget Reconciliation Bill which would authorize the agency to use certain special funds for normal operating. Heritage Fund grants were recommended to be reinstated, but that is also contingent upon a favorable Joint Legislative Budget Committee review to allow internal fund transfers,” said Woodling.

“Now our staff will be looking for all different types of partners to keep the parks open in these rural communities.  In September our staff will be presenting scenarios for salvaging the state parks and programs.  We will have to drastically reduce our expenses to meet the extremely low budget presented today,” said Renée Bahl, the State Parks executive director. [Note: To read the full article, click here]

Viewpoint: Arizona State Parks won’t get blood from a turnip

[Source: Camp Verde Bugle] — Arizona State Parks is more money-strapped than ever before under the new operating budget, but if the department is going to rely on supplemental funding from the communities it serves, state parks will be dropping like flies.  Payson somehow found the money to help keep Tonto Natural Bridge State Park open on weekends this summer, and there was a similar situation in Yuma.  The reality is, most towns next to state parks are not floating in spare cash.  You know what they say about getting blood from a turnip.

Arizona State Parks has heightened its call for help beyond your basic volunteers.  They want cash.  They would especially like funds from local towns.  It has a selling job to do in order to winkle money out of penny-pinching municipalities.  There has to be viable proof of value to the town.  If, for instance, the Town of Camp Verde found some extra coins in its linty pockets and dedicated it to a Fort Verde fund, would there really be a return on its investment?  Or would it be a stop-gap measure to allow the park to hang on just a little longer?

Fort Verde is an example of a park that could do with a real concrete partnership with the Town of Camp Verde.  Fort Verde has already cut operation hours and staff, and more cuts would come hard.  Governmental partnerships are key to financial survival at this stage.  [Note: To read the full article, click here]

Viewpoint: Arizona’s heritage? What heritage?

[Source: Editor, Phoenix Magazine] — State Parks officials announced Monday that they would be cutting the budget for Arizona parks even further, tapping special funds that were earmarked for park maintenance and conservation because the state Legislature has throttled way back on its direct support.  The agency’s 2010 operating budget was officially pared down from $26 million to $19.3 million.  It is contingent upon the Legislature’s renewal of special Heritage Fund grants, which support programs and places that are considered to be among the most Arizona-centric stuff in the state.

But if history is a lesson, that may be a long shot. Lawmakers have been raiding the voter-restricted Heritage Funds to pay off the state’s massive $3 billion-and-counting budget deficit.  This left behind a huge mess, which Phoenix Magazine columnist Jana Bommersbach outlined in her June 2009 column titled “(Un)Clean Sweep.”

State Parks Executive Director Renée Bahl, who left San Diego County parks and took office last month, said in a recent press release that Arizona parks are seeking volunteers (and given these types of cutbacks, we’re talking much more than monthly cleanups next to dry stream beds, folks).  “Now our staff will be looking for all different types of partners to keep the parks open in these rural communities,” Bahl said in a prepared statement.  “In September, our staff will be presenting scenarios for salvaging the State Parks and programs.  We will have to drastically reduce our expenses to meet the extremely low budget presented today.”

It’s a sad statement.  Doubly troubling is that these parks that generate much more revenue for Arizona towns than the money that is actually afforded to them through user fees and direct funding from the state’s general fund.  This recent economic analysis has the details, plus a handy summary.

Budget plan avoids more Arizona state park closures

[Source: Casey Newton, Arizona Republic] — The state will likely avoid closing additional parks under a budget plan adopted Monday by the Arizona State Parks Board.  The board voted to adopt a $21.4 million budget that will preserve most hours of operations at the state’s 30 parks.  The parks system closed McFarland and Jerome state historic parks earlier this year after lawmakers slashed its budget by more than $36 million in the past year.  The parks board will meet next month to set new priorities and determine whether the parks will be reopened.

“It’s dark days,” said Renee Bahl, the parks system’s executive director.  “The bottom line is there’s just no more money.”

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, which also closed as part of cost-saving measures for the parks system, re-opened on weekends this summer with funding from the town of Payson.  The state’s agreement with Payson ended Sunday, and officials were hoping to negotiate an extension this week. Otherwise, the park will close.  [Note: To read the full article, click here]

Arizona State Parks staff issues memo on reinstatement of suspended historic preservation Heritage Fund grants

[Source: Vivia Strang, Historic Preservation Grant, Consultant, Arizona State Parks] — Today at the Arizona State Parks Board meeting the Board made and approved the following motion:

“Move that the Board authorize the Executive Director to reinstate the funding of the Heritage Fund Grants suspended in FY2009 and further provide the Executive Director the authority to extend the terms of the affected Grant Contracts up to 12 months.  This authorization is contingent on; 1) a favorable review by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) of the agency’s request of cash transfers, between its own funds, to comply with reductions and transfers from the state budget bills, and 2) the enactment of the Environmental Budget Reconciliation Bill previously (SB1258), which provides operational authority for the State Parks Board.”

What does this mean?

• First – today the Board approved the reinstatement of the suspended Heritage Fund Grants (suspended in February 2009) plus a 12 month extension to complete the project.
• Second – JLBC has to give a favorable review of the cash transfers.  The JLBC meets frequently and this could potentially happen in September.
• Third – the Legislature and Governor have to enact the Environmental Budget Reconciliation Bill.  While the Governor signed a budget, part of what was line item vetoed were portions of the Arizona State Parks operational budget.  This needs to be renacted for State Parks to have funds to continue to operate.  The Legislature is still meeting and we should know the outcome any day.

Today the Board voted to cancel the FY 2010 Grant Cycles for SLIF, Heritage Fund, OHV and LWCF Grant Programs.

Budget cuts hurting Arizona’s museums; institutions, parks falling into disrepair, forced to close

[Source: Jim Walsh, Arizona Republic] — Even as Arizona prepares for its centennial in 2012, the state’s history is becoming less and less accessible to the average citizen.  Museums across Arizona are cutting hours, restricting programs, merging or closing altogether in the face of drastic budget problems.  The State Archives, which had been open only two half-days a week, is trying to figure out how to go to a four-day schedule with a diminished staff.

And state parks, many with historical significance, can’t turn enough money at the gate to maintain aging and sometimes-dangerous facilities and stay open.  The impact is significant: In a state where so many people are newcomers, the institutions that can help them connect to their new state’s history are harder to access.  “The more people know about their place, the more likely they are to be good citizens,” said Dan Shilling, an expert in civic tourism and a former executive director of the Arizona Humanities Council.  Museums play an important part in extending that knowledge, Shilling said.  [Note: To read the full article, click here]

Viewpoint: Arizona State Parks is a system on the verge of closure

[Source: Arizona State Parks Foundation, Florence Reminder] — In the face of Arizona’s sprawling growth and development, thirty exceptional places have been set aside over the past half century for the recreational, environmental and cultural enjoyment of Arizonans and all who visit our state.  The places are the lakes, rivers, historic buildings and ecologically-rich natural areas that constitute Arizona State Parks — a collection of wonder-provoking sites that the Arizona State Parks Foundation (ASPF) seeks to preserve, promote and enhance.  As a nonprofit organization, ASPF offers the foremost way for parks patrons, visitors and friends to support and strengthen Arizona State Parks.

Without the Legislature’s help in securing immediate additional revenues for Arizona State Parks, the current FY10 budget will force closure of virtually all state parks, shutting a system that serves more than two million visitors annually, while depriving local communities of some $266 million a year in parks-related income.  [Note: To read the full story, click here]