.. as it relates to Lake Brownwood State Park: All Politics is Local !

Aug. 1, 2006, 11:37PM
Study: Money there to fix parks
Panel says using the levy on sporting goods as intended would save state system

By GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - Texas lawmakers should take quick action to fix the state's crumbling parks system by using special tax revenue long intended for parks, according to a draft report on chronic problems facing state parks.
"We need to do what's necessary to give us the best state parks system in the nation," Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Chairman Joseph Fitzsimons said Tuesday.
All revenue from a sporting-goods tax that Texas voters approved 13 years ago should flow to state parks, according to the report by a state park advisory committee.
It also recommended unused bonds from a special bond package for parks previously approved by voters should be issued to fix the state parks.
Texas voters approved a sporting-goods tax for state parks 13 years ago, but only $15 million of the $105 million created by the tax last year went to parks. Lawmakers put a $32 million cap on the tax revenue for parks in the mid-1990s but have diverted millions of dollars from that pool for other uses.
As a consequence, many of the state's 114 parks are understaffed and operating with reduced hours. Maintenance has been delayed, and the department's vehicle fleet is aging. The state has been unable to buy or develop new parks despite a booming population.
"The current situation of our parks is critical. They are in desperate need of capital expenditures and more personnel, " said former state Sen. John Montford, who chairs the state Parks Advisory Committee.
Fitzsimons, a San Antonio attorney, appointed the advisory committee to recommend ways to deal both with immediate funding problems and to take care of future needs. Fitzsimons and his commission will consider a final report at an Aug. 24 hearing.
The state's investment in its parks clearly has been "inadequate for many years," the report says.
"We're working within the system, and we wanted to try to help the Legislature find a solution to the problem, not just be a bunch of rabble-rousers and say, 'Hey, you have a problem you need to fix,' " Montford said.
Using all of the sporting-goods tax, as intended, could fix current needs in addition to addressing ongoing major repair projects and future park acquisition. The report suggests using $15 million of the sporting-goods tax revenue each year to expand existing parks and to develop new ones.
The report also recommends park grants for local communities be increased to $25 million a year from $5 million.
"Local parks are on the front line of our parks system, and they've taken a disproportionate amount of the cuts in the last two legislative sessions," Fitzsimons said.
The grants allow communities to build soccer and baseball fields and jogging trails, Fitzsimons said, emphasizing the payback potential from the sporting-goods tax.
Gov. Rick Perry favors using money from the tax for parks but doesn't want to elaborate until the final report, spokeswoman Kathy Walt said.
"He believes that when Texans are told that's how their tax dollars are being used, the state has an obligation to keep its commitment," she said.
The condition of state parks will likely emerge as a campaign issue this fall.
The consequences of neglected parks are catching up, said Chris Bell, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, who is visiting state parks this week.
"People have been told that they can have it all and that state government can meet all your wants and needs and desires and you don't have to pay for it," Bell said. "I think people are waking up to the fact that that's simply false."
State parks are valuable, said San Antonio retired aircraft machinist George Garner.
"They are going to be mighty disappointed when these parks get run down where they are not even attractive anymore," Garner said.
Montford said he knows that funding pressures make it tough for state lawmakers.
"I'm not going to rear up and make a series of recommendations that I don't think will be palatable for the Legislature," he said. "On the other hand, we're going to look at the facts and call it like we see it."

gscharrer@express-news.net

source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4088189.html
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Editorial


July 31, 2006, 10:10PM
Tragic legacy
Without more money, every state park in Texas will deteriorate, and many will close.

Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

The population of Texas is growing rapidly, but the budget for expanding and improving the state park system is zero. The parks department can't even maintain what is has.
The historic Texas State Railroad that runs between Rusk and Palestine is scheduled to be closed. Its locomotives and rolling stock will be displayed in fixed positions.
Nearer to Houston, two historic plantation sites are moldering. One, a treasure trove of artifacts illuminating the lives of African-Americans in Texas in the early 19th century, is closed to the public and neither protected nor maintained.
The state parks department is reducing the hours many parks are open to the public. It lacks money to repair parks damaged by Hurricane Rita. It can't replace 10-year-old vehicles. Once a jewel in the state's crown, the park system is going to rack and ruin.
So sharp and alarming is the system's deterioration that it has become an issue in the governor's race long before the fall campaign, at a time voters usually pay little attention to politics. Perhaps Texans are growing weary of living in a state at the bottom of the barrel for almost every measurement of quality of life.
The Democratic nominee, Chris Bell, decries lack of funding for state parks. Independent Kinky Friedman ridicules the state's attempt last year to sell off 46,000 acres of parkland in Big Bend. Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn advocates dedicating to the parks more of the $100 million in sales taxes Texans pay each year on sporting goods.
Gov. Rick Perry, perhaps by design, has been all over the map on the issue. He has said the state parks need and deserve more money; he favors increasing the sales taxes given to the park system. But he has also said the parks department should be prepared to cut its budget 10 percent, and that in some circumstances it might be good policy to sell some irreplaceable parkland in order to operate or repair other parkland.
Over the years, the state park system has been starved by legislatures controlled by Democrats and by legislatures controlled by Republicans. Unless the Legislature acts next year to significantly increase the budget, its members will leave a tragic legacy: a system consisting of closed or deteriorating state parks.


source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/4085094.html