Budget Cuts Might Close Some State Parks
Decatur Metro | August 26, 2008The news out of the GA capitol just keeps getting better.
According to the Gainesville Times, some of Georgia’s state parks and historic sites could soon be closed due to our inexplicably unavoidable budget shortfall. Though the state is tight-lipped about which parks and sites might be targeted, it does admit that parks with higher foot traffic are more likely to get a reprieve.
The potential closings are part of proposals created by the DNR to cut expenses by 6%, 8% and 10%, so the state can cushion its current $1.6 billion deficit.
I can’t wait to hear what other wonderful plans our state has in store! Maybe we could clear cut the closed parks for timber and then go on state-sponsored drilling expeditions!
h/t: FreshLoaf
UPDATE: Friends of GA State Parks is already mobilizing in case any parks are closed.
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You would prefer that we simply ignored the shortfall and just borrowed the money? While not ideal, this strikes me as responsible action. Doing nothing now only makes things worse later. Look at California.
I guess it all boils down to priorities DEM. I admit that not everyone is going to have the state parks as high on their list as I might…since visiting them is a favorite past-time of mine. From what I’ve read, the state parks have had their budgets cut every year since 2002, so its not like they’ve been eating up more and more funding over the last 5-6 years.
Plus, what happens once a park is closed? Is the land sold off? It sounds like an irreversible decision.
Instead of blanket cuts across all departments, I’d prefer more specific cutbacks to areas that have seen growth as a result of increased revenue over the past 8 years. How did we support this many parks 10-15 years ago? The money was coming from somewhere else. Where? Unfortunately I haven’t followed state politics long enough to know.
I obviously don’t recommend taking money from more vital areas of state expenditures, but I’ve got to believe there’s a lot of other poorly distributed money out there.
But again, it all boils down to personal priorities.
And no, I don’t want to borrow anything. I think King Abdullah already has enough U.S. IOUs filed away.
I really doubt they’re going to sell the land. Closing them probably means they’re just not going to maintain them for some time.
I did a bit of research on this because I was curious about the issue, and if you look at where GA’s money went in 2007 as opposed to 1991, we did have a large rollback in the percentage of spending devoted to social programs like state park funding. But we have commensurate increases healthcare spending and education, and in 2007 about 2.5% the budget was devoted to a tax relief grant. But even if you took that relief grant out, you’d have the increases in health and education that together about equal to the amount by which spending on a range of social programs declined. Money that once went to parks, etc. is not going to buy prescription drugs and whatever black holes our public schools throw it into.
This is a bit of a microcosm of the federal budget. To be sure, it is all about priorities, and it sure seems as if the big priorities are spending trillions on government healthcare and endlessly throwing money at schools when study after study says spending won’t increase performance. (If only life were that easy.) So, bottom line, cutting the parks will anger some, but not nearly as many as a big cut in Peachcare or educational funding.
good thing we’re spending all that tax money on repaving the connector…
thats a waste in my book, the pavement wasnt that bad at all before, now it seems the same, just blacker. I’m sure there is a reason whey they can’t do it, but I’d rather see that money go towards parks than unecessary repaving.
Agree with COD, but I think DOT money is Federal match or something…
While these parks are closed, how about some of our convicts or better yet…some folks on welfare that are VERY able…be put to work working on path restoration, cleaning of sites, raking, whatever…I know first hand that some areas of the Appalachian trail in Georgia look like they haven’t been repaired since…well…the WPA!
DEM – thanks for looking a little deeper into the problem. Where would one go to do that BTW? I’m always looking for new online sources!
So what you’re saying is that to be in favor of keeping the parks open I also have to be against increases in healthcare and education? Oh man…talk about a rough position to take in an argument. Isn’t there ANYTHING else we can cut?
COD and Jim – Jim is right…most of that highway money is coming from the Fed. And from what I hear, GDOT already has a 3 billion dollar deficit in terms of funds available vs. projects promised.
well that just sucks
Maybe we could cut the budget of the DOE in half! Think about it!
We spend more and more and more every year and the performance of our thugocracy run schools keeps going down and down and down.
Lets give it a shot!
Maybe then I wouldn’t see so many German engineered cars in our elementary and high school parking lots!
(this was all a joke…..or maybe it wasn’t…..who knows….if the state runs a school system that spends around $10K per student, and nothing changes…..what the heck is going on?)