“Opt-out” license fee for parks is working so far

After a month, the “opt-out” license fee for state parks is on track, with $1.4 million in the bank.

The program, which you can read more about here and here, was designed as a way to sidestep park closures. The plan: Add a $5 fee to everyone’s license renewals, but allow people to opt out of it if they don’t want to donate the money to parks.

From the release: The 2009 Legislature established the new donation program, which began with September vehicle license tab renewals. The goal was for donations to replace $28 million of the $52 million in General Fund tax operating dollars cut from the State Parks budget. During 2009-11 Legislative budget deliberations, reductions to State Parks would have otherwise meant temporarily closing as many as 40 parks around the state. When the budget was finalized and signed in early May, the Legislature had created the new program and stipulated that all parks would remain open provided sufficient revenues are collected.

They need to collect about $1.25 million each month in order to keep parks from closing. The opening month’s $1.4 million, then, is right on track.

Tags: opt-out, parks