PORT ANGELES — State parks may soon no longer be free to visit.
In an attempt to save parks from the state’s budget ax, Rep. Kevin Van De Wege introduced a bill last week that would require most visitors to state parks to pay a $10 entrance fee.
An annual pass for all parks would go for $30, the same cost as a pass for Olympic National Park.
The fee would apply only to vehicles. Visitors who walk or bike to the park would not be charged.
Van De Wege, D-Sequim, said the state, which faces a $4.6 billion budget shortfall, doesn’t have any other choice.
He said the state needs to raise about $60 million during the July 2011 to July 2013 biennium to keep all parks open.
“I can’t find any other option,” said Van De Wege, who represents the 24th District, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
“You can’t nickel-and-dime a package together to raise $60 million,” he said.
The state has 142 state parks, including 11 on the North Olympic Peninsula. All but 10 state parks could be closed and mothballed if no money is raised, Van De Wege said.
There’s no guarantee the fee would raise enough money to maintain all parks, he acknowledged.
“I think we are going to raise some money, and we are going to have to lose some state parks,” Van De Wege said.
The bill does not call for hiring more employees to enforce the fee, he said. It specifies a $99 fine for those who don’t pay the fee.
The Parks and Recreation Commission, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Fish & Wildlife requested the bill.
The fee would not replace a $5 optional donation to state parks when renewing vehicle tabs. Drivers are required to opt out of that fee if they don’t want to pay it.
Former Rep. Lynn Kessler, a Hoquiam Democrat who retired from her 24th District seat last year, introduced the 2009 bill that created the vehicle-tab fee as a means to maintain state parks when the state was faced with another multibillion-dollar budget gap.
Van De Wege said he would like to see the vehicle-tab fee eliminated if the bill is adopted.
He said he didn’t address that in the bill because it would have made the legislation “dead on arrival.”
The Legislature approved a $5 day-use fee in 2003 but repealed it three years later after visitor numbers plummeted.
Nearly two in five drivers make the $5 donation when renewing their car tabs.
Ilene Frisch, director of administration and finance for state parks, said 1.1 million people – more than half of those who donate now – would need to buy annual parking passes to make up for the proposed budget cuts.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
