MCGusto wrote:Does anyone know what the normal operating budget for the state parks is in the first place? $54 million in surplus sounds like a lot.... but how does it compare to the total amount spent on state parks every year?
It's a drop in the bucket compared to their budget, but that doesn't matter. The state insisted on shutting down a large part of the parks system to save $22 million a year. This was entirely unnecessary - they could have kept all the parks open with reduced services - but they used it as a high-profile carrot/stick for the next round of tax increases. That 54 million would have pushed any park closures out by 2 years. If the executive branch hadn't played such an absurd game of budget chicken, they wouldn't be eating crow right now.
Sucks for anyone who put up private money to help keep their local park open.