Republican Rick Perry and Texas State Parks: Too little too late !

Bell presses Perry on park money
Texas ranks near bottom in funding of state parks.
By Asher Price
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Seeking to carve out some competitive ground on the issue of paying for state parks, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell rolled into town Monday as part of his Healthy Texas environmental tour.
Speaking at McKinney Falls State Park in Southeast Austin, Bell blasted Gov. Rick Perry. Texas ranks near the bottom in state park funding as a percentage of total state spending, according to the National Association of State Park Directors. In 2001, Texans approved a $101 million state bond package designed to improve park infrastructure. But only $54.8 million of that money has been appropriated by the Legislature.
"Rick Perry," he said, "has presided over a raid on parks funding.
"Rick Perry defied (Texas voters). He stood in the way while the parks waste away."
Amid growing criticism, Perry last week said he would sign legislation to lift the $32 million yearly cap on how much revenue from the state's sporting goods tax can be spent on parks.
"The governor wants the state parks to be the best in the nation," said campaign spokesman Ted Royer. "That's why he suggested the creation of a special panel to look at parks funding and make some long-term funding recommendations to the Legislature."
Money for parks is a growing election-year issue that combines a handful of stories particular to Texas: The stewardship of land, the preservation of hunting grounds, a historic unwillingness to use public money in a state that is about 95 percent private land, and, on a sentimental level, pride in state history.
A recent Texas A&M University study found that 80 state parks generate $1.2 billion annually in jobs, sales and income for communities around the state.
"These officials have realized that it's a quality of life issue for Texas, it's an economic driver for Texas, and it affects smaller communities enormously when you underfund their parks," said Andy Jones, a board member of Texans for State Parks, which supports park funding.
McKinney Falls, which is visited by more than 115,000 people each year, has seen some of the problems witnessed in other state parks. The roof of the visitors center, which is closed Monday through Friday to save on utilities and is open for only six hours on Saturdays and Sundays, has suffered water damage.
The park has an operating budget of $116,000 for 2006, but the staff has identified $3 million in maintenance projects.
"If we could hire more staff, I think our park visitors would be much happier," said David Shirley, the park superintendent.
Bell has proposed directing all the revenue raised by the sporting goods tax, more than $100 million a year, to state parks and channeling the 2001 bond money to the parks as soon as possible. The state park advisory panel that Perry put together has called for as much as $500 million for repairs.
Representatives for Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman, independent candidates for governor, also said they support lifting the cap on using money from the sporting goods tax.
A spokesman for Strayhorn said she supports park acquisition and last year opposed the sale of public land near Big Bend, but in the past she has proposed privatizing concessions in some state parks to keep up their hours.
"The governor does not have the power single-handedly to increase funding, but he's not putting pressure on the Legislature to make parks a priority," said Friedman spokeswoman Laura Stromberg.
"We don't have an actual (park financing) plan at this point," she added.

asherprice@statesman.com; 445-3643

source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/1parks.html