Cash-strapped state parks look it – Columbus Dispatch

Cash-strapped state parks look it
Legislators seek money to ease huge maintenance backlog
Monday, April 6, 2009 3:02 AM
By James Hannah
ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAYTON — Helping manage three state parks these days has Alan Ferguson feeling like a handyman with an empty toolbox.

He can’t haul brush and beach sand because his dump truck has broken down, and he can’t get the parts to fix broken basins and leaky pipes in aging campground shower houses.

“We’re spread a lot thinner than we used to be,” said Ferguson, assistant park manager for Cowan Lake, Caesar Creek and Little Miami state parks. “Equipment is falling apart on us. We did our best for many years to try to keep up, but it eventually starts to show through.”

Years of budget cuts have left Ohio with more than $550 million in backlogged maintenance projects meant to upgrade hiking trails, repair dams, renovate cottages and make other improvements at state parks.

Some state lawmakers hope money will be available in the coming budget to chip away at the backlog.

State Rep. John Domenick, D-Smithfield, chairman of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, could not say how much money might be earmarked but said the wide public appeal of the parks should generate support.

There is $9 million in surplus federal money that could be used on parks, said state Sen. John A. Carey Jr., R-Wellston, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. But the money has not been earmarked for that.

The Parks Division has had its budget cut in eight of the past 10 years. It received $355 million in that period, a reduction of about $18 million.

Since February 2008, Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration has made three rounds of budget cuts as the economy has worsened, leaving the Parks Division with a current annual operating budget of about $63 million.

Money for maintenance has been steadily shrinking, according to Dan West, chief of the Division of Parks and Recreation.

West said he doesn’t expect to get the money he needs in one chunk, but he will take whatever he can get. About 35 million people visit Ohio state parks each year.

Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said the recession has forced tough budget choices.

“But the governor does remain committed to providing affordable outdoor recreational opportunities for the citizens of Ohio,” Wurst said.

Brent Anslinger, 33, of suburban Miami Township, is an avid hiker, once hiking the entire Buckeye Trail that winds around the state for 1,400 miles. In February, he arrived for a hike at John Bryan State Park in southwestern Ohio and was confronted with a “road closed” sign that warned about storm damage to the trail.

Anslinger, who was forced to hike down the road until he arrived at the trail, said it is upsetting to see the parks begging for funding at a time when people are looking for low-cost recreation.

“It’s a shame that’s the first thing to get cut,” he said.