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http://www.channel3000.com/news/3977264/detail.html
How sad to completely close some places!!! I wonder if there’s anything we as a group could do to help keep all the areas open….
It sad, but budget cuts are just making this stuff happen. I notice other parks in my neck of the woods seem to have a lot of hours on “auto pilot” … with closed sign on the office door and going on the honor system. It never hurts to try and help out, but my small view into budget issues seems to indicate that by the time we hear of these things the decisions have already been made.
[This message has been edited by EnergySaver (edited 12-07-2004).]
Many parks closed their entrance booths last year.
It makes me wonder how much of the DNR budget actually comes from licensing and permit fees? Although it’s easy to complain about having to pay any fee, I don’t know of anyone that has stopped hunting, fishing, or going to parks because of the fee…..
Would it not make more sense to raise the fees & keeping the places open, despite maybe loosing a few of the more frugal people?
quote:
Originally posted by Cathunter:
Would it not make more sense to raise the fees & keeping the places open, despite maybe loosing a few of the more frugal people?I agree with you on that. I know of some people (not saying geocachers) that don’t believe in paying state park fees, so they park on the nearest side road and walk in a mile to use the park. I’ve never understood that … it would feel like going to a restaurant and sneaking in to eat the buffet. I’m enjoying the park, I should pay towards it, what else can I do for $20 a year?
Well, I shouldn’t get policical, but…. Ever since Doyle, my hunting license went up $40.00, Training permits have gone from $5.00 to $25.00, Pheasant production has been cut in half, parks are being closed, and services are being cut. The DNR has been greatly affected by the Doyle administration. Budget cuts always sound good to tax payers, but we pay for it elseware.
Just my casual observation
Brian, I couldn’t agree more. I also hear that the deer hunting license is going from 20$ to 32$. That just pisses me off. For the past couple years “the herd is huge”, yet I have not seen a single living deer during the gun season for the past 2 years. Literally. I see more when we go geocaching!
I use to work for the state. What I know of what I saw is huge wasteful spending. I worked in the IT dept and every year my location was -required- to spend ~$300,000 on new PC’s. These were -not needed- in this evironment. It took at least 6 months to deploy and nearly 1/4th of the PC’s bought had hardware issues. (I’m under estimated there in reality)
So when I see crap like this I get really pissed off. I’m all for technology, hell it’s where I make my living. But if that is just what occured at my location I have a good idea on how much the division spent. Then looking across the board to the rest of the divisions in the state it’s rediculous.
Anyways.. I’m sure some other WGA members may still work for the state so I’ll stop my rant.
So sad to see parks close…
Nick
quote:
Originally posted by Cathunter:
It makes me wonder how much of the DNR budget actually comes from licensing and permit fees? Although it’s easy to complain about having to pay any fee, I don’t know of anyone that has stopped hunting, fishing, or going to parks because of the fee…..Would it not make more sense to raise the fees & keeping the places open, despite maybe loosing a few of the more frugal people?
I’m not sure if anyone knows but the money collected by the DNR goes to the states general budget and in turn they give back SOME of it to the DNR for their budget. The reason the DNR is cutting budgets is the state is using the money for other things.
in a recent local newspaper article it talked about harvesting the salmon eggs and that the excess dead fish and excess eggs are sold and the money goes to the general budget NOT the DNR. The problem is the state is funneling license fees to other uses because Doyle said he wouldn’t raise TAXES, just license plate fees and DNR fees.I fully support our DNR. I’m not pointing any fingers at them. My sites are aimed a lot higher.
I’ve seen some other states DNR’s and I think we are lucky to have such a good department. Like Nick said, there is a lot of wasteful spending in the government. Eliminating wasteful spending is the first step. I don’t think we need to sacrifice people’s jobs and shut down facilities in order to do so.
I don’t mind small increases in my licensing fee. But when the fees go up, I expect service to be the same or better. It’s hard to swallow a large license fee increase and see the services I use cut in half.
One example, I use to pheasant hunt at Bong Recreation area several times a week. Over the past two years, the number of pheasants released has been cut in half. This means they have to either release half as many birds, or cut the season in half. This used to be a property that was known for providing a quality pheasant hunting experience. Now it’s not worth the drive. Pheasant hunters have REQUESTED TO PAY MORE in order to maintain the quality of the facility. The problem is, all the money gets rolled into the general fund. The extra money the hunters have volunteered to pay would never make it back to Bong Recreation area.
Fixing the problems will take a change from the top….the very top.
I had not known that the DNR fees etc get pooled into the “big bucket”. I’m not surprised though. Man, that really makes me think twice about purchasing licenses for seasons that I might get one day to go out hunting. I never had a problem with paying it as I was under the assumption that ‘any little bit helps’ the DNR. Not in this case I guess.
No wonder the DNR hasn’t kept up with WGA’s whole Geocaching policy proposal. They’ve got a lot more things to worry about.
Just makes me feel more justified in the ‘I hate you” look I give Doyle every once and awhile I see him at work. 😛 So much to say, but this is not the place
Maybe we’ll have some better luck with the DNR if/when we have a new state leader. Is that election in 2005 or 2006?
Nick
Yup, sooner or later it all gets pooled in a big bucket. From personal experience, even stuff that was never a tax, “collected” in a special way for a special purpose is fair game. All to say that the taxes didn’t go up, in reality it’s taking money for something else and harvesting it for taxes.
quote:
Originally posted by GrouseTales:
I fully support our DNR. I’m not pointing any fingers at them. My sites are aimed a lot higher.I’ve seen some other states DNR’s and I think we are lucky to have such a good department.
I agree!!!! I don’t own my own hunting land. I rely on public hunting land and the generosity of some local farmers to use their land. The dnr has provided me with some excellent hunting grounds as well as a lot of areas to geocache in.
Governor Doyle really should have thought about all the tough times he would create as governor in the sixteen years before he took office. This really was irresponsible on his part. He was probably just preoccupied with one or two tobacco companies.
Is WGA going to start endorsing political candidates?
Fixing problems often does require a change at the top. We’ve had a little success with that in the last few years, but change doesn’t happen overnight.
It occurs to me the only time I’ve posted with a political response prior to this I was chastised. Perhaps I’m a slow learner.
This is all Tim, so direct your love letters toward me! Carole just humors me.
I love you Tim
There’s never a winner when you debate politics. Regardless of whether you like Doyle or not, it’s easy to see that the DNR is under a budget crisis. This situation is likely to get a lot worse before it gets any better.
I’m glad to see someone stuck up for Gov Doyle, I was feeling bad for him with everyone slamming him here in this thread .
We all have different opinions, and they’re just that…..opinions
[This message has been edited by GrouseTales (edited 12-08-2004).]
Today’s Journal Sentinal reports that the Natural Resources Board Voted 7-0 to approve the 2005-2007 Budget.
I assume the proposed budget that they approved was the governor’s.
Here are the proposed reductions: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/budget.pdf
Here is the proposed budget for revenue: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/budget1.pdf
[This message has been edited by Trudy & the beast (edited 12-09-2004).]
Of this budget, annual park entrance fees were of greates interest to me. http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/budget1.pdf at the bottom of page 3 I found this effort to justify the increased fee:
“Wisconsin’s current annual vehicle admission prices for residents in 2004 are at least 20% less than neighboring states levying a vehicle entrance fee:
Minnesota $25
Indiana $24
Michigan $24″They convieniently omitted Iowa, Illinois [where there currently is no such fee], North Dakota and South Dakota [$20 each]. In fact there were 10 states that had no such fee as late as 1993 TN, WA, IA, KA, HI, IL, KY, OH, OK, PA . Using common practice is not justification for this fee increase.
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