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By DEREK MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
California State Parks is planning to increase the price of annual park passes by as much as $70 on May 1, another example of park users being asked to pay more to avoid more service reductions or parks being shut.
The cost of an annual day use pass that is valid for all California parks will jump from $125 to $195. The Golden Poppy pass, which provides entrance to 98 parks, including several in Sonoma County, will go from $90 to $125.
State parks officials have yet to announce the increases, which were outlined in a memo sent to all park employees last week and obtained by The Press Democrat.
Roy Stearns, a state parks spokesman, said Wednesday the park pass increases — the first since 2009 — are necessary to offset service reductions.
“We don’t like raising fees. But the cost of everything is going up,” Stearns said.
But at least one critic questioned the wisdom of raising park fees at a time when parks offer scaled-back services or none at all.
“If demand for your product is dropping, the last thing in the world you want to do is hike your price. No economist in the world would support that,” said Philip Sales, who was Sonoma County’s chief park planner from 1988 to 2006.
The fee increases reflect a growing sentiment that park users will have to pay more out of their own pockets as Sacramento grapples with budget deficits. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered $22 million cut from the state parks budget to help solve a much larger deficit.
Even as they plan to raise fees, state parks officials are planning to shut dozens of parks July 1 to save money. The state originally announced plans to shut 70 of California’s 278 parks. Officials now say they have agreements to keep 12 open and hope an additional 34 will be spared.
On Tuesday, the state announced it had reached an agreement with a nonprofit to keep Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen open past the July 1 deadline.
Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park east of Kenwood and Austin Creek State Recreation Area in Guerneville remain on the closure list.
Such shutdowns would pose a dilemma for Allen Barrett, a retired UPS driver from Rohnert Park, who said he’d be willing to spend $195 for an annual park pass — but not if his favorite parks are closed.
“I don’t buy it to go to San Simeon or to Donner,” Barrett said. “I buy it to go local.”
Stearns said state parks expects to sell almost 25 percent fewer passes after the fee increases take effect. Nonetheless, the agency is projecting an additional $1.5 million in annual revenue from passes that are purchased after May 1.
Stearns acknowledged the fee increases could deter some people from visiting state parks.
“But there are still a whole bunch of parks where you can bring the whole family and stay all day for 10 bucks,” he said.
In an email to State Parks Director Ruth Coleman, Sales wrote he was “absolutely baffled” by the agency’s marketing strategy. He urged Coleman to simplify the pass program, cut the price of the pass, develop incentives and make the passes more available through retailers.
Sales implemented that strategy when he was with county parks and the result was the agency going from selling less than 500 regional park passes in 1992 to more than 12,000 last year.
But Sales said he received a cool reception in February when he met with state parks officials in Sacramento with a proposal on how they could implement a similar pass program statewide.
“They provided a litany of ‘can’t work, won’t work’ comments,” said Sales, who also is chairman of a committee that is trying to prevent the closure of the Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park in July.
State parks sells about 65,000 passes annually, which is not very many relative to the state’s population.
More than 60 percent of those passes are sold in Southern California park districts where surfing is popular, Sales said.
Caryl Hart, Sonoma County’s parks director and also chairwoman of the California Parks and Recreation Commission, said the county’s pass program works because people can easily and quickly recoup the money they spent on the pass.
“A lot of people don’t have state parks within driving distance,” she said.
Increasing the price of park passes is only one way officials are planning to raise additional revenues. Other ideas include expanding paid parking areas and installing credit card machines or other technologies to make it easier for people to pay.
“Whether it’s good or bad, I think it’s necessary,” said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who has introduced legislation that would overhaul the state’s parks system. “This isn’t just parks. Every part of state government that can rely less on the general fund, efforts are being made to do that.”
Katherine Hastings, a Santa Rosa poet and radio host, said she is willing to pay $195 for a state park pass, which she said is a “lot less than what people spend on gym memberships.”
“Just walking into Annadel is such a privilege,” she said. “I wouldn’t want that to go away.”
You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.
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abloish wiggens SB670 and Browns AB120 and you have infused the state with over 100 millions dollars in revenue not to mention what it will do for the small towns, remember what happen to the logging industry with the spotted Owl
Private sector is under attack
and government officals wonder why the parks might close
whats the latest on the asphalt and quarry plants
but lets invest in more Solyndra’s
Sandy, if you had a relative that had proven irresponsible with money you had given them, and they came back to you asking for more, would you be ever so willing give it to them?
The Parks, the Schools and the Roads are not the problem; they are the result of fiscal irresponsibility.
Public Safety owns the State, to reward them by shoring up areas they have bled dry would simply encourage them to continue.
What is the first step in a 12 step program?
Recognizing that a problem exists.
This is the aim of the Libertarian Government haters on this website. Bleed our State by refusing to fund schools, parks and roads and then complain about government until everything is privatized and there is no public commons left. I for one am tired of paying “fees” because the the Republicans took a pledge to Grover Norquist not to raise taxes. I’d rather pay a tax once a year for good public schools, clean parks, safe streets and transportation and roads than be nickle and dimed to death all year long with ‘fees’! Enough with the republican “drown Government in the bathtub mantra.” Let’s drown the GOP instead by electing responsible leaders who aren’t afraid to vote for revenue increases.
I actually believe this will be counterproductive, because I for one was willing to pay the $69 to help the local parks, but would not be willing to pay $139 or more, particularly when they are closing the park I use most – Annadel.
The park service would be better off to lower the cost and market it more widely to get more people to pay to use the parks rather than walk in free.
The shenanigans with all the utilities.
The shenanigans with our parks and open space.
The shenanigans with ‘redistricting’.
The shenanigans with the empowerment of unelected boards, councils and agencies.
The shenanigans regarding preferential accomadation to bikes.
It’s happening all over the Country.
It’s all ICLEI’s ‘vision’.
It’s about the same thing oppression is always about…control.
It’s also about deliberate crashing.
I apologize for being a broken record.
However it is misplaced to quibble over the Left/Right thing.
Or to call these people dumb or dillusional.
That is letting them off too easy.
They have sold us out.
They picked what looks like the winning team, they are going along to get along.
I played a little game with myself.
I pretended I wanted to gain knowledge about ICLEI/Agenda 21 in 10 minutes flat.
First I searched: ICLEI and Agenda 21.
Bingo.
The connection was on the first two entries, ICLEI’s own web sites!
The third was Freedom Advocates. That is Michael Shaw’s site;
possibly the most prolific figure in the growing resistance.
If I clicked on ‘ICLEI Primer: your town and Freedoms Threatened’ and if I read reasonably fast…yes I could get a head start on understanding ICLEI in 10 min. flat.
You could do it if you haven’t already.
A well meaning public official could too.
Colfax Ca. is the 55th community to kick ICLEI out.
Are we gonna make the top 100 in the ‘hit parade’?
Until we do, we’ll be taking lots of… ‘hits’.
Might make you want to ask;
why do we…
well, you get the idea.
Pay for what you take. Isn’t that the mantra around here?
Pay for your roads, pay for your kids in school. Pay for your parks. But don’t pay any tax you can evade.
A lot of corporations are charging for every little thing, especially including banks and airlines. I look forward to the day you will be taxed by the step to walk on a public sidewalk.
All it takes is this little chip implanted in your body. Then we could track your use of public resources, as well as your location if we ever need to talk to you. My cats have no problem with this.
If you don’t want that outcome, why do you keep pushing our whole society in that direction?
“Service reductions” ?????
What “service” ???
Anyone ever seen a park ranger patrolling the trails in Annadel ? I’ve never talked to anyone who has seen a “ranger” leave the pavement. As a result, the park and other local parks are covered with illegally created trails.
All because the “service” of park “rangers” isn’t anything more than parking citations at the parking lot level.