3 more state parks added to closure list

Three more state parks could be at risk of being shuttered within weeks following funding cuts by the Legislature.

Parks Director Ken Travous said he will recommend that the Parks Board consider closing Tonto Natural Bridge State Park near Payson, Jerome State Historic Park in Jerome and Red Rock State Park in Sedona when the board meets today to consider how to balance the budget. That is on top of a list of eight parks Travous put on the list earlier this month.

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But Travous told Capitol Media Services that this move doesn't mean that he now believes the state needs to actually shut down 11 of the 27 operating parks. Instead, he said, it simply means the three added to the list probably should be at or near the top of the list for closure.

He said that, at a minimum, at least five parks will need to be closed. His recommendations will include Tonto and Jerome as well as McFarland, Oracle and Homolovi.

Travous also said that, as directed by the board, he explored alternatives to closing down any of the parks. But he said none of them would raise enough money to keep all of them operating.

State lawmakers, seeking to deal with a $1.6 billion deficit this year, took nearly $4.9 million out of the Parks Department's operating budget. The Legislature also seized more than $17.3 million out of various special funds, some of which already had been awarded to local communities in grants for construction of new parks and historic preservation.

One option, he said, involved closing all parks two days a week. But Travous said that did not save enough, as each of the parks still needed at least three employees due to shift times and vacations.

He said park fees on the estimated 400,000 people who will visit state parks between now and the end of the budget year on June 30 cannot be raised high enough to make up that nearly $5 million loss of operating money.

Admission to most parks currently is in the range of $3 to $6. Travous said such a big hike would result in people going elsewhere - meaning his agency wouldn't get what it needs anyway.

The original list Travous crafted was based strictly on money: He recommended closure of the parks that lose the most on a per-visitor basis.

That put McFarland State Historic Park in Florence at the top. With fewer than 5,000 visitors a year to the building and operating costs exceeding $195,000 a year, that works out to a net loss of close to $38 a visitor.

Oracle, the Yuma Quartermaster Depot, Tubac and Homolovi also each lose more than $14 per visitor.

What changed, he said, is that both Jerome and Tonto "are falling down." Travous said it makes sense to close both during repairs.

Red Rock was added to the list, Travous said, because board members wanted to know which parks have a relatively low percentage of users from Arizona. Only about a quarter of those who visit Red Rock are state residents.

There is another option to closing parks: Raid a special fund that now puts aside $20million a year, designed to help preserve open space around urban areas, and instead give this year's allocation to the Parks Department and other agencies that had their budgets cut. Rep. Warde Nichols, R-Gilbert, already has introduced legislation to do just that.

But Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr said she believes the move is illegal. Bahr pointed out that the measure was approved by voters in 1998. She said the Arizona Constitution forbids lawmakers from tinkering with anything approved at the ballot unless it "furthers the purpose" of the original measure.

Operating parks with funds to buy or lease state land, she said, does not.

Members of the House Government Committee voted 6-3 earlier this month to go ahead with that move, but the battle is far from over: Even if HB2088 is legal, it still requires a three-fourths vote of both the full House and Senate - 45 of 60 representatives and 23 of 30 senators - to alter the voter-approved measure.

Travous said the Parks Board has not taken a position on the measure.