The sporting goods tax generates more than $100 million a year, but only $20 million went to parks this year. Hilderbran has fought to lift the $32 million cap on the sporting goods tax revenue that can go to parks with the remainder going into the general fund.

Regardless of what happens, lawmakers will increase funding for parks, Estes said.

The sporting goods tax currently gets levied on items that have nothing to do with parks and wildlife, Estes said, and the revenue from that tax should not go to parks.

Wow, what a justification for diverting funds from their intended use! Want to try that one before the voters? Does this mean that the legislature will go back and give the parks any money over the cap from the taxes that does have something to do with parks and wildlife?

Now we know why the legislature is in session on odd years while elections are on even. We wouldn’t want voters making a link between actions and elections. That would result in accountability.

Technorati Tags: Craig Estes, sporting goods tax, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Harvey Hildebran, park funding

AUSTIN — A widely acclaimed report last year recommending that Texas lawmakers use all sporting goods tax revenue to shore up the state’s deteriorating park system has hit a wall.

Parks supporters call the tax, which generates more than $100 million a year, the only reliable funding method for repairing parks, keeping them open and developing new ones. But only $20 million from the tax went to state and local parks this year.

The Texas House recently voted 140-3 to use all the tax’s revenue for parks, lifting a cap of $32 million that can be dedicated from that tax for parks.

Senate leaders say it’s a bad idea to dedicate sales tax revenue to any particular purpose.

Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Kip Averitt, R-Waco, called the House action “an interesting ploy,” but he and others are resisting calls to do the same.

Dedicating revenue for specific programs or services handcuffs lawmakers, Averitt said, adding, “The sales tax is our only flexible source of money that we have, and we’re really reluctant to give all of that away.”

Unbelievable. Yes, it would handcuff lawmakers but that’s what you do when they have proven they can’t be trusted to do the right thing. It would be a different situation if in the years since the tax had passed that majority of the money went to the parks and the parks were in great shape. If there had been an off year now and then, it probably wouldn’t have been a big deal. But what happened is that the legislature spent only 20% or less of the generated revenue so yeah, I think people want the money dedicated.

The following really gets me:

MySA.com: Metro | State

Averitt defended the Senate’s spending proposal for parks, which calls for about $27 million more than current outlays for operating expenses per year in addition to asking voters to approve a $35.4 million bond issue for park repairs.

He wants to ask the voters to approve bonds for park repairs. Now why shouldn’t the voters ask, “uh, what about that sporting goods tax we’ve been paying all this time? Wasn’t that supposed to keep this from happening in the first place?”

Normally, I would agree that you don’t want to legally dedicate the revenue because the senate does have a legitimate need for flexibility. However, given the legislature’s track record in allocating this money, they don’t deserve that trust.

Technorati Tags: Texas Parks and Wildlife, Sporting Goods tax, Kip Averitt, Harvey Hilderbran

One other bit of controversy Wednesday centered on an amendment by Chisum that some say would give an unfair funding advantage to local parks in the home districts of various well-connected House members.

Under the amendment, more than a dozen proposed local parks — many of them in the districts of members with ties to Craddick, and one in Craddick’s Midland district — could get state funds without going through the regular grant application process, critics say.

Hilderbran had a provision in his bill that would have required the funding of those parks to go through the regular grant process. But House members adopted an amendment by Chisum that stripped out that provision.

Hilderbran said he thought the provision was bad public policy. Craddick, however, defended the amendment, saying the Hilderbran bill as written complicated the appropriations process. Craddick also said the parks in question would have to go through an orderly process before they could get the funding.

Craddick aint going to pay for anything unless he gets something out of it. I bet Odessa and Midland are going to have some really nice parks.

Technorati Tags: Warren Chisum, Tom Craddick, Harvey Hilderbran, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Sporting Goods tax

Our parks still haven’t recovered from Hurricane Rita.

News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | LOCAL NEWS | Coastal parks still reeling from Hurricane Rita

Several state employees were doing the same thing, not just in their homes but at their parks as well. Ten Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sites were damaged by Hurricane Rita including state parks, historic sites and wildlife management areas.

Some parks still aren’t open. Gene Cox spends part of each day explaining to people why Sea Rim State Park is still closed, more than a year after Hurricane Rita blew through East Texas.

“Our water plant has been damaged and our wastewater plant has been damaged so there’s no water facilities at all,” Cox said.

And even the ones that didn’t experience Rita weren’t in great shape.

Star-Telegram | 12/25/2006 | Budget increase expected for state’s parks

A Star-Telegram investigation found inoperable vehicles, shuttered facilities and reduced services throughout the 600,000-acre system. The problems accrued, along with a long maintenance backlog, during a decade in which lawmakers redirected millions of dollars originally dedicated to parks for other purposes.

Privatization isn’t the answer.

Waxahachie Daily Light – Sports – Texas Parks and Wildlife Top Stories

And, late in the year, as a result of unexpected oil and gas revenues, TPWD announced its intention to keep the Texas State Railroad running through August 2007, providing time to explore long-term options for the costly historic train, including a proposal to transfer it to local or private control.

Can’t you just see it, the AT&T railroad? However, the Enron Battleship Texas might be appropriate.

STATE NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas

A little more than 16 years ago the Texas triumphantly returned after more than a year in dry dock. She had $15 million worth of repairs but even that only replaced about 35 percent of her plating.

“For about the cost of one dry docking cycle we can get her out of the water permanently and save her for future generations while simultaneously saving the state of Texas over the decades,” Barry Ward said.

STATE NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas

“I would have to say we’re on a downward spiral,” Bartel said. “The maintenance, keeping up with the maintenance, repairs of our facilities has gotten worse over the years.”

But back aboard the aging warship where 300,000 visitors come each year, no one would consider a surrender.

Pushing it off to local government isn’t fair, it’s just an excuse to not have to deal with the issue and let the developers control our future.

Star-Telegram | 12/25/2006 | Budget increase expected for state’s parks

Providing more controversy for the Legislature is Eagle Mountain Lake, the 400-acre Texas Parks and Wildlife Department property that for years has been coveted by Tarrant County developers. During a news conference in September, Gov. Rick Perry announced a deal in principle to preserve the lake property as parkland by selling it to the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Not that anyone in Texas cares about how we rank nationally, (just look at our education system), we are at the bottom in terms of parks.

MySA.com: Metro | State

Texas ranks 49th in the country in per capita spending for parks, according to a report issued last summer by the State Park Advisory Committee. The report recommended that lawmakers annually appropriate $25 million for major repairs in state parks, $25 million for local parks, $15 million for park road maintenance and $15 million to acquire and develop new parks.

Maybe someone should bring this to the Governor’s Business Council for study. What’’s amazing is that this is a resource used by all Texans, not just those of a certain age or of a certain income bracket. And Perry still doesn’t get it.

MySA.com: Metro | State

More than 10 million people visit Texas state parks each year, generating an estimated $793 million in sales in local restaurants, hotels and other businesses, according to last year’s report.

You even have a Perryman report on the economic importance of parks.

Odessa American Online: Serving the Permian Basin of West Texas

On a local level, loss of the state’s matching funds for parks development and improvement “will put that burden on the local taxpayers,” said Steve Patton, director of the Odessa Parks and Recreation Department.

Speaking from his office in Waco, Perryman said the report shows the “positive impacts of local parks on the state and what they do in terms of promoting tourism.”

The Texas Tourism board has estimated that tourism is the second largest contributor to the state economy, “directly supporting 468,000 jobs with earning of $11.7 billion annually.”

The Perryman report also noted that “the incremental net fiscal revenue to the state government from local parks activity is approximately $171.6 million per year or almost seven times the level of funding proposed by a recent task force.”

Between 1990 and 2003, the budget for state parks decreased by 34 percent even though total spending for services was up by 68 percent, the report indicated.

The Texas Recreation and Parks Account, which funds grants to cities to help develop local parks, was reduced from $20 million to $15.5 million per year during the 78th Legislature and to $5.6 million by the 79th Legislature.

Not that I think much of Perryman’s economic anaylsis, but if it’s good enough for the Trans Texas Corridor, it should be good enough for the parks.

However, I think I’ve found the problem with funding the parks. One of the commissioners is from San Antonio and we know how much San Antonioans value their park space.

MySA.com: KENS 5: Sports

If the bond wins approval, the city’s parks department would get a revenue boost that would more than double the amount ever allocated to it. But city officials say that’s not enough to address both the priorities already outlined by the city and needs residents are identifying during the hearings.”

The money is simply not going to be there,” Zanoni said.

Soccer has become the leading youth-participation sport in the U.S., far outpacing baseball, football and basketball.

Austin has 315 youth soccer fields, more than five times the 58 fields here; Houston has more than 400 youth soccer facilities; Dallas has more than 350.

Basically, people in San Antonio are worried that someone else might get more use out of the parks then they would personally. I’m suprised that baseball parents haven’t come out in protest yet.

Of course, it’s not fair to blame the situation on just one person. This is a problem that has been growing for years.

Governor to fill four spaces on Parks and Wildlife commission

Through 13 years of Bush or Perry appointments, the commission has devolved into a board that seems more determined not to attract attention to the Parks and Wildlife Department or toss criticism at the governor’s office than to create a vital environment for discussion and debate on issues affecting wildlife and people.

I guess the Perry-approved committee didn’t get the message.

Governor to fill four spaces on Parks and Wildlife commission

This fall, a Perry-approved committee recommended expanding the department’s allocation from the state’s Sporting Goods Sales Tax.

What’s the point of all this rambling? These reports come from all over the state: Waxahachie, Odessa, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin. This isn’t a bunch “do gooder liberals” from Austin whinning about their bike trails. These are people from around the state that use the parks to hunt and fish. These are people from small towns where the local economy is dependent on the parks. So why is Perry balking now?

Exactly what 100% of Texans is he representing? Who would object to spending more money on parks? This is Perry’s chance to demonstrate that he’s an astute politician after all and realize that this one campaign promise he needs to make good on. Or he prove again that there really isn’t much else to him besides the “good hair” and hot air. After all, Texas is a “state of mind” which is a good thing because if you leave it up to Perry, there won’t be any thing physical left to share.

Technorati Tags: Texas Parks and Wildlife, TPWD, Texas, Rick Perry, Sporting Goods Tax, Parks funding, Harvey Hilderbran, Eagle Mountain Lake, Texas State Railroad, Battleship Texas

MySA.com: Metro | State

But spending all of the sporting goods tax on parks represents “a substantial amount of money,” the governor told reporters.

“And my question is, if we drop $100 million on Parks and Wildlife and say, ‘Go spend it efficiently and effectively on your parks,’” maybe they can’t, Perry said. “So finding the appropriate amount of money to spend on the parks to get them updated, upgraded and maintained appropriately may not take all that money.”

Let’s see, maybe they would spend it on making a dent in critically needed repairs?

MySA.com: Metro | State

The department needs between $140 million and $200 million in critical repairs and up to $400 million in total repairs, said Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, author of House Bill 6.

Never mind that Perry said that all of the sporting goods sales tax should go for parks.

MySA.com: Metro | State

Running for re-election, he embraced a plan to use all of the sporting goods sales tax for its intended purpose: state and local parks.

After all, that’s just politics. The question is, what is he getting out of changing his mind now? It’s not like he’s running for re-election and is trying to make nice with the voters. But wait, the voters wanted the money spent on the parks. Did somebody at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department piss him off? Could he be that petty? What other possible explanation is there?

Technorati Tags: Texas Parks and Wildlife, TPWD, Texas, Rick Perry, Sporting Goods Tax, Parks funding, Harvey Hilderbran