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Imediate call to action

Todd Adams

Todd Adams

Grammy's Spotter
Location
Salt Lake City
This is from John Borg fellow Utah State Parks and Recreation OHV council member. This will devastate Utah State Parks and our OHV recreation program in the state. Please act now since we only have a couple of days to let our Legislature know this is the wrong thing to do. There is no way that State Parks and Recreation could continue on with this on their already cut budget. We have until this Thursday!!!
Todd Adams

FOR UTAH RESIDENTS... The legislature has already cut $3 million from the planned $9.8 million budget. $9.8 million to $6.8 million is a huge cut. But may not be the end if it. Now there's talk of cutting $4 MILLION MORE. This would be disastrous. Cutting the State Parks and Recreation general budget another $4 million will take it down to $2.8 million. This is over 71% from the original budget, which has already seen incremental cuts over the past few years. Unfortunately, there's not much time. The last day of the 2011 Utah General Legislative Session is THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 10th. So if this happens, it'll be happening fast, with very little time for public involvement. PLEASE CALL BOTH YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND STATE SENTATOR Tell them: Don't cut any more from the State Parks and Recreation and the OHV program budget. It'll take a few minutes at most. You can find who your State Senator and State Representative is, and get their contact information at: http://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp Just enter your address. DO IT NOW. Thanks
 
SportSawyer

SportSawyer

Member
Location
Northern Utah
Here's a reformatted version with some more information:


NOTE: If this additional cut is enacted, many State Parks could close, including Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Sand Hollow, Jordan River OHV Park, and many more. Read on, and PLEASE CALL BOTH YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND STATE SENATOR. Please pass this on.


The legislature has already cut $3 million from the planned $9.8 million 2011 State Parks and Recreation budget. $9.8 million to $6.8 million is a huge cut. But that may not be the end if it.

Now there's talk of cutting $4 MILLION MORE. This would be disastrous. Cutting the State Parks and Recreation general budget another $4 million will take it down to $2.8 million. This is reduced over 71% from the original budget, which has already seen incremental cuts over the past few years.

Unfortunately, there's not much time. The last day of the 2011 Utah General Legislative Session is THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 10th. So if this happens, it'll be happening fast, with very little time for public involvement.

PLEASE CALL BOTH YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND STATE SENATOR

Tell them:

Don't cut any more from the State Parks and Recreation budget.


It'll take a few minutes at most. You can find who your State Senator and State Representative is by clicking this contact information link.

You can get their phone number and email contact information from the above. It may help to also send an email message.

DO IT NOW.

Thanks
 
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Todd Adams

Todd Adams

Grammy's Spotter
Location
Salt Lake City
March 9, 2011 3:30 PM





Here is a quick update on the State Parks budget cut. I am writing this to you from just outside the House chambers. I have had the chance to talk to a number of legislators today. Many agreed with us that the proposed budget cuts were too deep. We have just had an insightful conversation with Representative Mel Brown. Rep. Brown has assured us that the additional proposed budget cut ($4 million) will not happen. The funding will be restructured and the agency will not lose 71% of their budget this year. But they are on the chopping block for possible future budget cuts and a large portion of their budget will no longer be guaranteed. They will lose the original $3 million that they agreed to. We talked with State Parks management and they claim to be, prepared for and, okay with it.

State parks will lose an additional 4 million in on-going funding but it will be replaced or restructured this year as $4 million in one time funding. The agency will then have the opportunity to request and justify future spending. This does place the agency in a position to see a loss in funding in the future and it may be harmful to the public.

The agency has recently went through an fiscal audit and Rep. Brown said they found a fair amount of excessive spending. We make no claim to whether this is true or not. But we also don't have any problem with requiring state agencies to justify their spending. We hope the legislature will continue to work with state parks and grant their responsible funding requests. We do feel state parks has provided excellent services and we hope to see that continue. When questioned about possible park closures Rep Brown also told us, "They better not close any parks!" and that the legislature may prohibit the agency from doing so. We can't help but wonder, "If the funding isn't there how can they be forced to keep parks open?" He believes they will have adequate funding to provide the services that so many enjoy. We believe this will happen.

Your Emails Made a Difference

A number of legislators actually showed as all the emails that have been coming in today as a result of our alert. Many of you made it known that you were a member of USA-ALL. That is great. It has made our work up here much easier. It's kind of like shelling a beach before you send in the ground troops! So, "Thank you" to those who provided us the cover fire. We believe you can stand down now as there is no need for additional emails.




There is still time for things to get all screwed up again but we are fairly sure that won't happen. We think this because it is too late in the process to do too much tinkering with the budget. We will continue to monitor the process and alert you if we see something of concern. We certainly should count this as a victory for our community and as usual we couldn't do it with out all of you. Thanks again.

Utah's 2011 general legislative session ends tomorrow night. I for one am looking forward to it!


Sincerely,



Michael Swenson
Utah Shared Access Alliance
 
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