Lawmakers cut state parks off of taxpayer money in 2011 when they started requiring the $30-a-year Discover Pass to park on state recreation lands.
Lawmakers cut state parks off of taxpayer money in 2011 when they started requiring the $30-a-year Discover Pass to park on state recreation lands.
They gave the parks system $17 million in bridge funding, but after mid-2013, parks are due to be entirely dependent on user fees and donations.
Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2012/06/19/parks-looking-to-ask-lawmakers-for-money-to-make-up-for-discover-pass-shortfall/
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Lawmakers tried to move the parks system off the state budget and onto user fees, but so far there have been simply too few users. Now a proposal with bipartisan backing calls for restoring some of the money.
Washington’s state park system is a venerable one – fourth-oldest in the nation and four years older than the national parks.
Washington State Parks officials can declare victory in one sense: They have convinced budget writers that parks can’t survive on user fees alone.
Washington State Parks officials can declare victory in one sense: They have convinced budget writers that parks can’t survive on user fees alone.
As Washington state’s park system enters its 100th year, budget cuts have begun to take a heavy toll.
Many of Washington’s 117 parks, 700 historic buildings and 33 heritage centers and interpretive sites are showing signs of neglect and even abandonment as a result of budget cuts, The Seattle Times reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/XAhW0E).
At Lake Wenatchee State Park, extensive wreckage caused by winter storms is still lying on the ground, with another season about to open. At Flaming Geyser State Park in Auburn, a historic lodge renovated to host weddings — a hoped-for moneymaker for the parks — sits shuttered because there’s no money for needed water, sewer and electrical repairs.
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