The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) covers a lot of ground throughout the state — literally.
The department oversees 22 state parks, several freshwater reservoirs, saltwater fishing, state forestlands and enforcement of hunting rules in all 67 counties in Alabama. Annually thousands of Alabama residents and visitors from all over the world take advantage of the bountiful natural resources that “Alabama the Beautiful” has to offer. Most of the activities, including resort hotels and conference facilities, are revenue generating.
That revenue has been attractive to legislators in the past — so attractive in fact that they have transferred money from ADCNR into the General Fund to counter the overall revenue shortfall the state has experienced in the last few years.
Would be ‘devastating’
In addition to cuts in state allocations to ADCNR, transfers from the ADCNR account into the General Fund have been proposed once again for the 2015–16 budget, a decision which Alabama State Parks Director Greg Lein said would be “devastating to the state park program.”
Lein said the department rarely has more than $2 million in cash reserves during any given month. Those reserves are built up during the busier summer season.
“Early on when we were contemplating an $11.4 million transfer, our strategy was that if that could be deferred until late in 2016, we would be able to receive our normal funds, might have a good summer, go through our peak season. We might be able to, through a lot of efficiencies, respond to that,” Lein said in an Aug. 28 interview with Don Dailey, host of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal.”
However, the budget that passed the Legislature in June, which the governor vetoed, called for quarterly transfers from the ADCNR account. That proposal changed the analysis, Lein said.
“If these quarterly transfers are passed, there’s a very real chance of overdrawing the cash balance of our funds. If that happens, we can’t pay bills, can’t make payroll and can’t honor our federal commitments,” he said.
A statement on the state parks’ website updated Aug. 12 said that since 2012, $27 million has been transferred from ADCNR programs, including the state parks division. That money has gone into the General Fund and then to some other agency, according to the statement.
These transfers have affected programs throughout the division and go beyond a state parks issue, Lein said. They also could affect federal grants and funds that are already in use in the state, he said.
‘Legal stipulations’
“These funds have legal stipulations that they can only be used for these programs. The repayment of those funds will be on the State of Alabama,” Lein said.
Lein said a collapse in the state park system will harm local governments and related outdoor businesses that benefit from the estimated $2–3 billion annual economic engine that is outdoor recreation in the state.
The proposed cuts could have a negative impact on agriculture in the state as well. According to the governor’s office, drastic funding reductions to the Department of Agriculture and Industries could result in the closure of two diagnostic labs that test for deadly livestock diseases and the closure of the seed lab, which will risk the purity and integrity of products for farmers.
The Environment Management Agency also would see cuts in staff and services. The governor’s office suggested that counties would have to deal with an increase in abandoned waste landfills, tire dump sites and other illegal dumps.
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