Washington may impose fee to visit state parks
Visitors to Washington state parks may have to pay a fee, starting in July.
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. —
Visitors to Washington state parks may have to pay a fee, starting in July.
A bill to create the Discover Pass passed the Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Chris Gregoire's signature.
A pass would cost $10 a day or $30 a year per vehicle.
The Olympian reports the passes are expected to generate more than $64 million every two years. Most of the money would go to the state Parks and Recreation Commission. Smaller amounts would go to the Fish and Wildlife Department and the Department of Natural Resources.
Washington has 119 state parks and millions of acres of publicly owned land.
As much as I protest that the 'Government is already taking too gosh darn much of our money!', I am okay with this. The Libertarian side of me is A-OKAY with a pay for use fee like this. In fact, it's how I think most Government run things should be funded.
30 dollars per year seems very reasonable to me, and something that even families on a budget SHOULD be able to work with. That's a family of 4 making one trip to the movies, or 1.5 trips to McDonalds. If I needed too, I would sacrifice either one of these to ensure that the states parks stay open.
Of course, some people do feel that this is wrong, and mean, and discriminates against the poor and elderly.
As I said above, I don't feel this is so. Prior to this bill being passed, the state parks were funded in part by a $5 'Opt-Out' fee attached to car registration fees. If you were the type of low class person who wanted to look lame(and you were smart enough to know it was happening, because it wasn't well advertized) you could 'opt-out' and save 5 dollars each year when you registered your car. Unfortuntely, I can't find a stat for how many people 'opted' out.
I know I never did. Mostly because I didn't want to look lame. Oh....and I was one of the folks that didn't know any better.
A bill to create the Discover Pass passed the Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Chris Gregoire's signature.
A pass would cost $10 a day or $30 a year per vehicle.
The Olympian reports the passes are expected to generate more than $64 million every two years. Most of the money would go to the state Parks and Recreation Commission. Smaller amounts would go to the Fish and Wildlife Department and the Department of Natural Resources.
Washington has 119 state parks and millions of acres of publicly owned land.
As much as I protest that the 'Government is already taking too gosh darn much of our money!', I am okay with this. The Libertarian side of me is A-OKAY with a pay for use fee like this. In fact, it's how I think most Government run things should be funded.
30 dollars per year seems very reasonable to me, and something that even families on a budget SHOULD be able to work with. That's a family of 4 making one trip to the movies, or 1.5 trips to McDonalds. If I needed too, I would sacrifice either one of these to ensure that the states parks stay open.
Of course, some people do feel that this is wrong, and mean, and discriminates against the poor and elderly.
As I said above, I don't feel this is so. Prior to this bill being passed, the state parks were funded in part by a $5 'Opt-Out' fee attached to car registration fees. If you were the type of low class person who wanted to look lame(and you were smart enough to know it was happening, because it wasn't well advertized) you could 'opt-out' and save 5 dollars each year when you registered your car. Unfortuntely, I can't find a stat for how many people 'opted' out.
I know I never did. Mostly because I didn't want to look lame. Oh....and I was one of the folks that didn't know any better.
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