ADVOCACY
Arizona State Parks (ASP) is facing the most devastating budget year in it's 50 year history. The Arizona State Legislature is proposing to
appropriate or sweep funds that enable the department to invest in its own neglected capital and maintenance needs. Grants to Arizona communities
for parks, open space and historic preservation are also on the chopping block. Your Arizona State Park system is at stake.
Starving Our Parks
Legislative action continue to threaten your Arizona State Parks. Please read the following Arizona Republic editorial
and take action today. Sample letters are available below for your use. Your attention and support are needed NOW.
Read the article
Senate Bill 1110: Funds; Elimination; Transfer (Burns)
The State Lake Improvement Fund provides more than $3 million in operating dollars and supports 28 Full Time Employees at Arizona State Parks.
It also provides more than $6 million in capital grants for water based recreation throughout Arizona. These funds would be in serious jeopardy if
SB 1110 passed into law.
Contact your Arizona State Legislators and object to passage of this seriously damaging proposal.
We Need You To Be An Advocate, Email Your Legislator and Your Local Newspaper. Here's How...
Upload the
"Sample Letter"
, "Sample Letter 2"
or utilize the following points to compose your own letter to your local newspaper editor (see our "Editors" list)
and your Arizona State Senator and Representative. To locate your Legislators, click on the "Arizona State Legislature" link at left.
IMPACTS OF PROPOSED CUTS TO STATE PARKS BUDGET
Devastating budget
cuts proposed – Legislative proposals for trimming a $1 billion state
budget deficit by cutting $38.3 million in funds available to Arizona State
Parks would leave the parks system unable to meet basic upkeep and maintenance
requirements.
Damaging past cuts
still being felt – Because of massive cuts to the Parks budget in
FY2003, many parks remain in serious
disrepair with buildings falling down, inadequate water systems, eroding
shorelines at Colorado River parks and failing wastewater systems that could
force parks to close. This is only a
partial list of needs.
Cuts out of
proportion to deficit woes – State Parks receives $8.2 million in
general fund appropriations – less than 1/10th of one percent of the
current $1 billion deficit. Proposed
cuts to the Park budget would do virtually nothing to fix the deficit problem,
but would see sacrifice the value of some of state’s finest assets.
Cuts would harm
system that generates revenues – Cutting the State Parks budget would
erode the department’s ability to generate revenues from park visitor fees and
harm communities that derive major economic benefits from local park
operations. A 2002 study by Northern Arizona University
showed that Parks system generates $126 million for local economies.
Slashing funds in face of growing demands makes no sense
– Not keeping the system whole in the face of increasing public demands on
parks facilities makes absolutely no sense.
More than 2.3 million people visit state parks each year. Yet funds for
operating the system have remained flat for the past five years despite
relentless cost hikes such as an annual increase of $500,000 in parks fuel and
utility costs.
Arizonans deserve to
have their parks protected – Arizonans own their parks. They purchased and developed these valuable
assets over the past 50 years and deserve to have them protected. If the state is serious about quality
growth, it must also be serious about protecting the recreational, natural and cultural
resources of a system that encompasses some of the most scenic and
environmentally unique places in the Southwest.
Without adequate
funding, parks deterioration will worsen:
Structural damage to historic buildings at:
Water treatment and restroom facilities at:
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