Park user fees backed

Nevada voters appear to agree with actions taken during Legislature's special session to keep state parks open: Let visitors who use the 25 parks shoulder the financial burden for upkeep and operations.

A poll of 600 likely voters conducted by telephone from Sept. 6 to Sept. 16 found that nearly 69 percent favored raising user fees to keep Nevada's state parks open.

Only slightly more than 11 percent of those surveyed support raising taxes to keep the parks open while more than 17 percent said close parks or reduce hours and services rather than raise taxes to offset the lack of funding for parks.

The poll, a random sampling of Nevadans conducted by Magellan Research, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. It was commissioned by the Review-Journal, 8NewsNow and Vegas PBS.

David Morrow, administrator of the State Parks Division, said fee increases for day use and camping were approved during February's special session and put in place permanently in July to offset a $1.086 million cut to the state parks budget, which currently stands at $3.8 million.

"There was a bunch cut, and we're due to get another one," Morrow said. "We're kind of hanging by a thread right now. We've reorganized. We've cut staff and still kept the parks open but it's going to be really tough this next session."

He said there are no plans to increase daily entrance fees and camping for next year.

"We put in a lot of time to analyze the fees during the special session. We felt we could raise the fees and not deter people from visiting the parks."

The new fee schedule took effect in April and was made permanent in July. Since the fee hikes, park visitation has increased 3 percent "and that's pretty good in these economic times," Morrow said.

About 3 million people visit Nevada's parks per year. Of those, about 1 million are out-of-state visitors.

Feedback from visitors shows Nevada residents appreciate the $2 discount offered through the new fee schedule. But some out-of-state visitors have lodged complaints, Morrow said.

His response to them: "Nevada residents subsidize parks so they deserve a break. About one-third of our total budget comes from their tax dollars."

Despite the Legislature's action, Marvin Longabaugh, president of Magellan Research, said he wanted to find out if the public still had an appetite for increasing fees again, if necessary, in anticipation of another budget shortfall.

What the poll indicates is that respondents would rather tax someone else or other entities such as the mining and gaming industries rather than shoulder the shortfall themselves.

Like similar questions that were asked regarding school activities and transportation in the state, those who responded to questions about funding parks favored letting people who use them cover those funding cuts.

"It would have been interesting to find out the difference between people who use the parks and people who don't," Longabaugh said.

With the recession in full swing in 2009, Morrow and his staff reorganized administration of the parks system by consolidating four regions down to two: a Northern region and a Southern region.

The state maintains 25 parks but two are closed for reasons other than budget cutbacks.

Walker Lake State Park was closed temporarily because of declining lake levels. Another park, Elgin School House, has been closed because the access road was washed out by flooding about five years ago.

To keep the remaining 23 parks open, day use fees were increased in general about $2 per vehicle. For example, out-of-state visitors at Cave Lake pay $7 per day per vehicle. Nevada residents, however, pay $5, or $2 less for day use at state parks.

Belmont Courthouse is the only state park where no fee is charged, but donations are accepted to preserve its historical value. The building is closed except when special tours are arranged, Morrow said.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.