Lawmakers eye $5 car-tab fee to keep state parks open

OLYMPIA — A $5 fee tacked on to your annual vehicle-license registration is the latest idea being floated to help save state parks from closure due to deep budget cuts.

The fee wouldn't be considered a new tax because you could decline to pay it by checking a box on the license-renewal form, lawmakers said.

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has identified more than 47 state parks that could be closed temporarily or, in some cases, transferred to cities, counties or tribes to maintain.

Parks officials say it's unlikely all of those parks would be affected, but any that are closed or transferred would come from that list.

Lawmakers haven't decided how much money to cut from the parks system. However, the closure list was developed after lawmakers asked the commission to show how it would handle a $22.9 million budget reduction.

Among parks that could be closed at least temporarily are Saint Edward State Park in Kenmore, Saltwater State Park near Des Moines and Dash Point State Park in Federal Way.

The state Senate is expected to release its proposed budget today, followed by the House on Tuesday.

State residents currently can make a $5 donation to support parks when they renew their vehicle-license tabs. But under the proposal being floated in the Legislature, the fee would be charged automatically — unless the car owner opted out by checking a box on the license-renewal form.

Idea gains momentum

Such opt-out fees for parks have been discussed since Montana started using the strategy in 2004. Republicans in Olympia say they have successfully blocked the fees in the past, but the idea is picking up support from House and Senate Democratic leaders, as well as elsewhere in the country.

But Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, says the fee would be "nothing more than a camouflage tax increase."

"People, especially elderly people, getting their vehicle-license tabs in the mail are not going to know they can say, 'I don't want to pay $5,' " Alexander said. "It is not the way to finance our parks."

House Speaker Frank Chopp, however, said people "certainly have an option not to pay it."

The opt-out fee likely will be drafted into a bill in coming weeks, said Melinda Ellis McCrady, spokeswoman for the House Democratic Caucus.

A memo written last week by state Deputy Solicitor General James Pharris said an opt-out payment system would be voluntary and not considered a tax. That means approving the plan wouldn't require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, as mandated for tax increases under Initiative 960.

Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, and Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, requested Pharris' opinion on the fee.

Jonathan Guzzo, advocacy director for the Washington Trails Association, supports the idea of opt-out fees.

Montana's story

In Montana, an opt-out fee has helped keep the parks system in better financial shape than in many other states during the recession, said Chas Van Genderen, acting parks administrator for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Montana includes a $4 fee as part of vehicle-registration paperwork.

Van Genderen said officials from Michigan, Idaho, California, New Jersey and Washington have contacted his agency to learn more about the fee. He said Montana was the first — and remains the only — state to add such a fee on vehicle-licensing forms.

Virginia Painter, spokeswoman for the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, said the panel has not taken a stance on the fee. But she added: "The commission would support any revenue source to keep the parks open."

In 2002, the commission closed a handful of parks and approved a $5 day-use parking fee to prop up shrinking budgets. The fee was widely unpopular, and the Legislature repealed it in 2006.

If 40 percent of people renewing their car tabs were to each give $5 to parks, the commission says, the agency would collect $23 million over two years.

Painter said 75 percent of the agency's funding goes directly toward operating 121 state parks.

The agency would save $13.6 million by temporarily closing, or "mothballing," 40 parks until it was financially possible to reopen them. At mothballed parks, the gates would be closed, utilities turned off and restrooms locked. Rangers would not cite visitors who enter on foot.

An additional 13 parks could be transferred to local governments with the goal of keeping them open.

Abuse at closed parks

Jon Kennedy, spokesman for the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, was particularly concerned about the possible closure of Saint Edward State Park. The park is one of the few places that offers mountain-biking trails within a half-hour of Seattle.

"It's a real community amenity, especially for that neighborhood," Kennedy said. "This would be a real loss for the mountain-biking community."

Guzzo said the proposed parks cuts aren't a surprise, considering the state's $9 billion budget shortfall in the next two years. He would like the state to find more revenue to keep the parks open.

"We're concerned about the state that mothballed parks can fall into," Guzzo said. "Those areas fall prey to all kinds of abuses, whether it's target shooting, meth labs and inappropriate use of motorized vehicles on trails."

Jennifer Sullivan: 360-236-8267 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com