State Park Fees.
They are too expensive, especially when they should be family friendly.
July 18, 2008.
It really bothers me how state park fees are so exceptionally high these days. $7 dollars is a lot to ask from people just so they can park their car inside of a state park, conveniently close to the pool, swimming beach, or picnic area. For many people, it's simply too much to ask to force them to pay so much.
Parks should be open to every one, and be part of an affordable day in the summer. The ideal solution would be to provide subsidized mass-transit service to parks, so people can get in without having to pay the crushing price of gasoline these days, but if we can't do that, then we should do something about the fees required to bring private cars into a state park.
Parking and other fees in state parks pay for nearly 75% of all expenditures in a state park, from lifeguards to ground maintenance. The rest comes from state grants and other funds. That means for the $7 you spend to get in, the state only pays $3 dollars. That may seem fair, except that many people can't afford the $7 on top of record high gas prices, and those are the people who most need to be able to visit state parks.
Young healthy people can ride their bike into the park or hike in for free. Yet, that's simply impractical for many families who have young children or have clothes to change into at the beach. It would be one thing if fees where a reasonable $3 or $4 dollars to pay simply for the maintenance of parking facilities, but to ask visitors to the park to mostly pay their way is unfair.
We want to encourage people to go to parks, and get away from the city at least for a while. One way would be simply to charge people for the cost of maintaining park roads and parking lots, and having the state pick up the rest of the costs of maintaining our excellent park system.
