By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Thursday, October 15, the Alabama Parks System will close five of its parks. Bladon Springs, Chickasaw, Paul Grist, Roland Cooper and Florala will all close in order to save the troubled parks system money. The closings, which disproportionately affect the Black Belt Counties, have been criticized because the cuts, like the cuts of the 31 driver’s license offices by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) target the government infrastructure closest to the people rather than management and redundant administration and staff in Montgomery.
One of the most outspoken critics has been State Auditor Jim Zeigler (R), whose own office received an incredible 25 percent cut.
Auditor Zeigler has announced that he will make a major speech “The State of Our State Parks” also on Thursday, October 15, the same day that the five parks close.
Zeigler said that the closure of the five state parks on Thursday is unnecessary and shows bad management by state government.
Zeigler said in a statement, “Gov. Robert Bentley says the parks are closing due to the Alabama legislature’s failure to pass his entire package of five tax increases. Three tax increases did pass, but the Bentley administration went forward with the parks closures.”
Zeigler says the parks generate 85 to 90 percent of the money they need to operate, from fees and sales.
Zeigler blames transfers of park funds by the state legislature to the troubled state general fund (SGF): “Just in the past five years, $15 million made by the parks has been stolen from them and used to prop up other state programs. If this money had been left within the park system, there would be no closures,” Zeigler said.
Zeigler said, “The Bentley administration is hinting at more closures of more parks next year. We need better management and a long-term plan to keep the parks open. The simple thing to do is to stop taking money earned by the parks and let them keep it. With a few changes, the parks can be self-sustaining and not rely on taxpayer funds. Nobody in Montgomery is taking a lead role in getting this done.”
Zeigler said that he will address the future of state parks at his Thursday speech in Hoover at the 5:45 p.m. meeting of
. The event will be at Hoover Tactical Firearms, 1561 Montgomery Highway, Hoover, AL. The meeting is open to the public.
Some lawmakers (particularly rural Black Democrats) have suggested that their districts were targeted with closures of parks, driver’s licenses, and even ABC stores because they would not support the Bentley Administration’s Draconian tax increases on the people of Alabama. The Black lawmakers had demanded that the state start a state lottery or allow casino gambling as a way to generate more revenue rather than Bentley’s plan to raise taxes on people’s cigarettes, cigars, nursing home beds, pharmacy prescriptions, income, utility bills, car tags, car sales, car rentals, tea and soft drinks, and business privileges.
A smaller cigarette tax (25 cents instead of the 80 cents Bentley first proposed), the nursing home bed tax, and the prescription drug tax were the only taxes to pass. The Bentley administration is expected to reintroduce more of their tax package in 2016.
State Parks officials insist that the five parks being closed have been money losers for years and were targeted to save costs not to target politicians or for racial reasons.
Zeigler has insisted that Montgomery cut out the perks and privileges of office such as the vehicles and the Governor’s jet rather than services to the people of Alabama like the parks.
